Lady of the Night: Year Three
by avatargrl11
Summary: Gabrielle has finally been made immortal by Dracula, and is back at Hogwarts. However, many things have changed this year. And Dracula is not happy with some of them. (Bad summary, I know)
1. Chapter 1

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER ONE:**

* * *

I dove off the rocks near the waterfall, landing with a splash in the pond below. Midnight watched me with a bemused sort of look, then went back to washing herself. Just as I broke the surface, Renny came into my garden room. "Miss Gabrielle, the Master wishes to see you in his study." I nodded. "Let me get changed, and I'll be right there."

Renny nodded, and waited outside as I grabbed my clothes and changed. I stepped outside, wringing out my hair, trying to get any excess water out as we made our way to Dracula's study, Midnight walking alongside me. "Do you know what he wants?" Renny shook his head. "He only said that it was important."

We entered Dracula's study, and he rose from behind his desk. "Renfield, take out your wand." Renny did so, and Dracula turned to me. "I have decided to make you and your pet immortal." I stared at him. "W-What?" Dracula ignored me, and grabbed a knife, cutting his right index finger. He then traced a circle with a square inside it on Midnight's forehead, and signaled to Renny, who pointed his wand at Midnight. Midnight emitted a soft glow, and then fell to the floor. "Midnight!"

"She will be fine. Hold still." Dracula grabbed my wrist, and traced a circle with a triangle inside it. Renny stared at Dracula for minute, then Renny pointed his wand at my wrist, and I felt dizzy, then passed out.

* * *

When I woke up, Dracula and Renny were sitting beside my bed, and Midnight lay on the floor, purring. "W-What happened?" Dracula stood up, looking at the night sky outside the small window in my bedroom. "When the immortality ritual occurs, the person receiving immortality often loses consciousness afterwards. No lasting damage has been done, however. Now, you will stop aging when you turn 25, and your panther will stop aging when she is fully grown."

When Dracula left the room, I turned to Renny. "Um, Renny, can I ask you something?"

"Certainly."

"I noticed that when he performed the ritual on me and Midnight, he drew a square inside of Midnight's circle, but he drew a triangle inside of my circle. Why did he do that?" Renny shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and didn't meet my eyes. "Well, Miss Gabrielle, the answer to that is...complicated." I frowned. "What do you mean, 'complicated?'" Renny took a deep breath. "You see, Miss Gabrielle...when a person is given immortality, the person giving it to them can make one of two choices for them: they can either make them a servant, which is my status; or make them their-well-their-"

"Their what?"

"You see, the square symbolizes servitude. And the triangle symbolizes...well...I believe you understand what I am trying to say." I stared at him in shock. "Are-are you saying that-that Dracula made me his-" Renny nodded. "I believe so."

"But-why would he do that? I never thought that he saw me that way!"

"Well, Miss Gabrielle, when you first arrived here, he took an interest in you. I believe that interest may have grown. He bonded with you."

* * *

A little while later, I was wandering around outside, when I heard a growl from behind me. I turned, and saw a werewolf standing right in front of me. My eyes widened, and I ran for the nearest tree, with the werewolf chasing me. I screamed as the werewolf tried to get at me, its teeth bared, snarling. "DRACULA!"

The Count came out of the darkness, and quickly snapped the werewolf's neck. Shaking, I crawled down from the tree. Dracula grabbed me by the wrist, dragging me back to the castle, his mouth in a firm line.

Once we entered the castle, he whirled on me. "What were you thinking!? I told you never to go outside the castle at night, particularly on a full moon!" His eyes were gold, and his face was twisted with rage.

I stared at him, then ran up to my room, crying. I buried my face in pillow, sobbing.

* * *

Half an hour later, Dracula entered my room, and sat down beside me on my bed. "Go away." I heard him take a few steadying breaths, and he spoke. "I do not believe you actually want me to do that." I kept my face hidden in my pillow. "You didn't have to get angry with me." I felt him push part of my hair out of my face. "I was simply concerned for your safety, and I let my anger get the better of me." I looked up at him, and was stunned to see that concern was actually written on his face. "Gabrielle, I am sorry I yelled at you."

I stared at him. "You apologized to me. You never apologize." He nodded at this. "It is a first time for me as well. Do you forgive me?" I hesitated, and then nodded, curling up into his arms.

* * *

One week before the end of summer holiday, Renny and I headed for Diagon Alley to pick up my school things. I heard the various witches and wizards discussing the fact that Sirius Black escaped from Hogwarts ("Personally, I won't let any of the children out alone until he's back in Azkaban").

Once we'd refilled my money bag with money from Dracula's vault, we headed for the Apothecary first to restock my Potions supplies. Next, we went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and bought new school robes, seeing as my old ones were too short. Then we headed for Flourish and Blotts, Diagon Alley's bookstore to buy my books, including the ones for my new subjects, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and Muggle History. I'd also decided to take on Muggle Music but that was just an extracurricular subject.

When I looked in the window of Flourish and Blotts, I saw a large cage holding about a hundred copies of **_The Monster Book of Monsters_**. Torn pages were scattered everywhere as the books fought with each other. I looked down at my booklist and saw that **_The Monster Book of Monsters_** was the required book for Care of Magical Creatures.

As we entered, the manager strode over. "Hogwarts? Come to get your new books?"

"Yeah. I need-"

"Move aside." The manager put on a pair of thick gloves and grabbed a walking stick, heading towards the cage containing **_The Monster Book of Monsters _**copies. After about three minutes of fighting with the books, he finally got a copy out of the cage. "Anything else?"

"Um...yeah," I said, eyeing _**The Monster Book of Monsters **_warily. "I need...**_Unfogging the Future_** by Cassandra Vablatsky."

"Starting Divination, hm?" He took off his gloves and led me into the back of the shop, and handed me a thick, black-bound book. "**_Unfogging the Future_**. Anything else?"

"Yes, I need...**_Intermediate Transfiguration_**, _**The Standard Book of Spells, Grade** **Three**_, and _**A History of Muggles**_." Five minutes later, Renny and I left Flourish and Blotts, Renny carrying my books, while I carried my other things.

* * *

The week passed by in a blur, and the end of summer holiday came far too fast for my liking. For some strange reason, the thought of leaving Dracula behind made me feel utterly depressed, and I couldn't figure out why. Maybe it was that bonding ritual thing that Renny had been talking about.

When I stepped onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters clutching a smaller Midnight in my arms, with Renny pushing my cart behind me, I spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Guys! Guys!" I ran over to them, hugging each of them in turn. Renny came up behind me, smiling down at them. "Hello, you three."

"Hello, Mr. Field."

Renny turned to me, and I hugged him. "I'm gonna miss you, Uncle Renny."

"I shall miss you as well, young one. Have a good year, and remember, you are expected back home for the...holidays." I nodded, grinning. "Got it."

Harry, Ron, Hermione and I stepped onto the train, and they told me what had happened over the summer. Ron showed me his new wand, and told us that his family had won the Grand Prize Galleon Draw, which they'd used to spend the summer in Egypt, visiting Bill, Ron's oldest brother. Hermione had gotten a cat, Crookshanks, that seemed hell-bent on killing Scabbers. Midnight eyed Crookshanks for a few minutes, and seemed to have decided that Crookshanks seemed decent.

There was only one compartment left, with only one person inside. He was fast asleep, and he wore extremely shabby robes that seemed to have been patched up in many places. "Who do you reckon he is?"

"Professor R.J. Lupin."

"How do you know that?"

"It's on his suitcase," Hermione whispered, pointing at the man's shabby suitcase.

"Wonder what he teaches?"

"Well, that's obvious, isn't it? There's only one spot open. Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Ron looked doubtfully at him. "Well, I hope he's up to it. Looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he? Anyway..." he turned to Harry. "What were you going to tell us?" Harry told us all about overhearing Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's argument, and the warning Mr. Weasley had given him. Hermione clapped her hands over her mouth. "Sirius Black escaped to come after you?! Harry, you'll have to be really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Harry-"

"I don't go _looking_ for trouble. Trouble usually finds _me_."

"How thick would Harry have to be, to want to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?" Ron said, his voice shaking slightly. I sighed. "Nobody knows how he got out of Azkaban. No one's ever done it before. He was a top-security prisoner, too."

"But they'll catch him, won't they?" Hermione said. "I mean, they've got all the Muggles out looking for him too."

Ron looked around suddenly. "What's that noise?" A tinny whistling noise was coming from somewhere in the compartment. "It's coming from your trunk, Harry." A moment later, he'd pulled a Pocket Sneakoscope out from between Harry's robes. Hermione looked at it with interest. "Is that a Sneakoscope?"

"Yeah...mind you, it's a really cheap one. It was going haywire while I was tying it to Errol's leg to send it to Harry."

"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?"

"No! Well-I wasn't supposed to be using Errol. You know how he's not really up to long journeys-but how else was I supposed to get Harry's present to him?"

"Stick it back in the trunk, or it'll wake him," Harry said. Ron stuffed the Sneakoscope into a pair of hideous yellow socks, which deadened the sound, and put it back in the trunk. "We could get it checked in Hogsmeade," Ron said. "They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff. Fred and George told me."

"Do you know much about Hogsmeade? I've read it's the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain-" Ron shrugged. "Yeah, I think it is, but that's not why I want to go. I just want to get inside Honeydukes!"

"What's that?" Hermione asked. Ron grinned. "It's this sweetshop where they've got _everything_...Pepper Imps-they make you smoke at the mouth-and great fat Chocoballs full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream, and really excellent sugar quills, which you can suck in class and just look like you're thinking about what to write next-"

"But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place, isn't it? In **_Sites of Historical Sorcery_** it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain-"

"-and massive sherbet balls that make you levitate a few inches off the ground while you're sucking them," Ron said, obviously not listening to Hermione. I looked over at Harry. "Won't it be nice to get out of school and explore the village a bit?"

"I expect it will. You'll have to tell me when you've found out." Ron stopped listing all the stuff they had at Honeydukes, and looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I can't go. The Dursleys wouldn't sign my permission form, and Fudge wouldn't either." We stared at him in shock. "You're not allowed to come?! But-no way-McGonagall or someone will give you permission-or we can ask Fred and George, they know every secret passage out of the castle-"

"Ron! I don't think Harry should be sneaking out of the castle with Black on the loose!" Harry snorted. "Yeah, I expect that's what McGonagall will say when I ask her for permission."

"But if we're with him, Black wouldn't dare-"

"Honestly, Ronald, don't be stupid. Black's already murdered a bunch of people in the middle of a crowded street. Do you really think he's going to worry about attacking Harry just because _we're_ there?"

She began messing with the straps on Crookshanks's basket, trying to get it open. "Don't let that thing out!" Too late. Crookshanks lept onto Ron's knees, and the lump in Ron's pocket that was Scabbers began shaking. Ron shoved Crookshanks angrily off of his knee. "Get out of here!"

"Ron, don't!" Ron was about to respond when Professor Lupin stirred. We held our breath, watching him for a few seconds, but he just turned his head the other way and kept sleeping. Crookshanks curled up in an empty seat, keeping his eyes on Ron's pocket, while Midnight simply slept on, unconcerned by all the chaos going on around her.

* * *

At one o'clock, the witch with the food cart arrived. "D'you think we should wake him? He looks like he could do with some food."  
Hermione moved cautiously toward him. "Er-Professor? Professor Lupin?"  
He didn't move.

"Don't worry, dear," the food cart woman said as she handed Harry some Cauldron Cakes. "If he's hungry when he wakes up, I'll be up front with the driver."

"I suppose he _is_ asleep?" Ron said quietly as she slid the compartment door shut. "I mean-he hasn't died, has he?"

"No, he's breathing."

He might not be good company, but Professor Lupin's presence had its uses. Just as it started to rain, our three least-favorite people showed up: Draco Malfoy, along with his lackeys, Crabbe and Goyle. "Well, look who it is. Potty and the Weasel." Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.

"I heard your father finally got hold of some gold this summer, Weasley. Did your mother die of shock?" Ron stood up so fast he knocked Crookshanks's cage to the floor, and Professor Lupin stirred. Malfoy looked over at him warily. "Who's that?"

"New teacher. What were you were saying, Malfoy?" Malfoy's eyes narrowed. He wasn't stupid enough to pick a fight right under a teacher's nose. "Come on," he muttered to Crabbe and Goyle, and stalked off with them on his heels.

Ron and Harry sat down again, Ron glaring at the compartment door. "I'm not going to take any more crap from Malfoy this year. I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of him and-"

_"Ron,"_ Hermione hissed, pointing at Professor Lupin._ "Be careful..."_ But Professor Lupin still seemed to be fast asleep.

"We must be nearly there," Ron said, peering out the completely black window. He'd barely stopped talking when the train began to slow down. "Great. I'm starving. I can't wait to get to the feast-"

Hermione checked her watch, frowning. "We can't be there yet." I looked over at her. "Then why are we stopping?" The train suddenly came to a stop, and we looked out of the compartment, and saw people peering up and down the carriage, all wearing the same look of confusion on their face. Distant thuds and bangs signaled that luggage had fallen out of racks. Without warning, all the lamps went out, and we were plunged into darkness.

"What's going on?" Ron's voice said somewhere to my left.

"Ouch! Ron, that was my foot!" Hermione whispered.

"Do you think we've broken down?" Harry asked.

"Dunno..." There was a squeaking sound, and we saw the outline of Ron, who'd wiped a patch clean on the window, trying to see outside. "There's something moving out there. I think people are coming aboard..."

The compartment door opened, and someone tripped over me. "Sorry-d'you know what's going on?-ouch-sorry-" I heard someone rustling around in the darkness. "Hello, Neville."

"Harry, is that you? What's happening?"

"No idea. Sit down-" There was a loud hissing and a yelp from Neville; he'd almost sat on Crookshanks. "I'm going to ask the driver what's going on," Hermione's voice said. The door slid open, and I heard squeals of pain.

"Who's that?"

"Who's _that_?"

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron-"

"Come in and sit down-"

"Not here! _I'm_ here!" Harry's voice said.

"Ouch!"

"Quiet!" Professor Lupin seemed to have finally woken up. There was a soft, crackling noise, and light filled the compartment. He appeared to be holding a bunch of flames in his left hand. "Stay where you are," he said, and got to his feet, still clutching the fistful of flames. Before he could reach the door, it slid open.

Standing in the doorway was a cloaked figure. Its face was completely hidden by its hood. The thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, shuddering breath, and I felt as though I'd been thrown into ice-cold water. I heard a thud beside me. Someone had fainted.

* * *

"Harry! Harry!" I slapped Harry's face, trying to get him to wake up. Harry slowly opened his eyes, looking up at all of us. Hermione and I lifted him back onto his seat. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. What happened? Where's that thing? Who screamed?" We looked at him, puzzled. "Nobody screamed, Harry."

"But I heard screaming..." Professor Lupin broke an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces. He handed a large piece to Harry. "Eat it. It'll help." Harry took the chocolate, but didn't eat it. "What was that thing?" Lupin sighed. "That was a dementor. One of the dementors of Azkaban." He crumpled up the empty chocolate wrapper and stood up. "Eat. It'll help. If you'll excuse me, I need to have a word with the driver."

He strode out into the corridor, and we began talking in hushed tones. "Are you sure you're okay, Harry?" Hermione said, watching him nervously.

"I don't get it-what happened?"

"Well-that thing-the dementor-stood there and looked around (I mean, I think it did, I couldn't see its face)-and you-you-"

"You went sort of rigid and fell out of your seat-"

"And Professor Lupin stepped over you, walked towards the dementor, and pulled his wand out. He said, 'None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.' When it didn't move, he muttered something, and a silvery thing shot out of his wand, and the dementor turned around and glided away."

"It was horrible. Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"

"I felt weird," Ron said quietly. "Like I'd never be cheerful again..." Ginny let out a sob, and Hermione put an arm around her.

"But-didn't any of you fall out of your seats?"

"No. Ginny was shaking like crazy, though."

Professor Lupin had come back, and he smiled at us. "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know." I took a bite, and felt a great warmth spread through my body. "We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes. Are you all right, Harry?"

"Fine."

We didn't talk much for the remainder of the train ride. Finally, the train stopped at Hogsmeade Station, and everyone scrambled to get out. It was freezing on the small platform, and rain was coming down in icy sheets.

"Firs' years this way!" I turned and saw Hagrid waving the first years over to him. "All righ', you four?" We waved at him, but didn't have a chance to say anything as the crowd of people around us shunted us along the platform.

* * *

As we stepped down from the carriages, Draco's voice spoke. "You _fainted_, Potter? Is Longbottom telling the truth? You actually_ fainted_?" Malfoy elbowed his way towards us, his eyes glittering maliciously. "Shove off, Malfoy," Ron snarled.

"Did you faint too, Weasley? Did the scary old dementor frighten you too?"

"Is there a problem here?" We looked up to see Professor Lupin standing there, an eyebrow raised. Malfoy looked him up and down, and then smirked. "Oh, no, _Professor_."

As we made our way into the castle, we headed for the Great Hall, when McGonagall's voice called out, "Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!" Ron and I waved at them as they walked off with McGonagall.

* * *

A little while later, Harry and Hermione joined us in the Great Hall, sitting down beside us. "What was that all about?" Harry opened his mouth to explain, but Professor Dumbledore had just stood up. "Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast. As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business." Dumbledore frowned, and continued.

"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises-or even Invisibility Cloaks. It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and to our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no students runs afoul of the dementors."

Dumbledore paused again, and then spoke. "On a happier note, I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." There was scattered, somewhat unenthusiastic applause. Only those of us who'd been in the compartment with him clapped hard.

"As to our second new appointment, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to announce that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

Loud applause broke out, from the Gryffindor table in particular. "We should've known! Who else would assign us a biting book!"

Once the applause had ended, Dumbledore smiled around at us all. "Well, I believe that's everything of importance. Let the feast begin!" The golden plates and goblets before us filled with food and drink. Suddenly starving, I began eating immediately. The hall rang with talking, laughter, and the sound of knives and forks clattering against plates.

When the last of the pumpkin tart vanished from the plates, Dumbledore gave the signal for us to go to bed. We ran up to the teacher's table to congratulate Hagrid. "Congratulations, Hagrid!"

"All down ter you three," Hagrid said, wiping his face on his napkin as he grinned up at us. "Can' believe it...great man, Dumbledore...came straight down to me hut after Professor Kettleburn said he'd had enough...It's what I always wanted..." He buried his face in his napkin and McGonagall shooed us away.

We joined the other Gryffindors climbing the marble stairs, along more corridors, up more stairs, and finally stopped in front of the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. The Fat Lady looked down at us, and said, "Password?"

"Coming through, coming through!" Percy's voice called through the crowd. "The new password's 'Fortuna Major!'"

"Oh, no," Neville groaned as the door to the common room swung open. He always had had trouble with the passwords. We went through the door, and Hermione and I climbed the stairs to our dormitory, while Ron and Harry left for their dormitory. As I laid down on the bed, Midnight lept up next to me, purring. I stroked her, falling asleep, with Dracula's face in my mind.


	2. Chapter 2

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER TWO:**

* * *

When we walked into the Great Hall the next morning, the first thing we saw was Malfoy entertaining a group of other Slytherins with what seemed to be an amusing story. As we walked past, Malfoy did an impression of a swooning fit, and the other Slytherins exploded with laughter. "Ignore them," Hermione muttered. "Just ignore them, they're not worth it..."

"Hey, Potter!" Pansy Parkinson, an ugly Slytherin girl yelled out. "Potter! The dementors are coming, Potter! _Woooo!_" Harry scowled, sitting down next to George. "New third-year course schedules," George said, passing them to us. "What's wrong, Harry?"

"Malfoy."

George looked over at the Slytherin table, where Malfoy pretended to faint in terror again. "That little git. He wasn't so cocky last night when the dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?"

"Nearly wet himself," Fred said, glancing over at Malfoy.

"I wasn't too happy myself," George said. "They're horrible things, the dementors..."

"Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?" Fred added.

"You didn't pass out, though, did you?" Harry said quietly.

"Forget it, Harry. Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember, Fred? And he said it was the worst place he'd ever been, came back all weak and shaking...They suck the happiness out of a place, dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there."

"Anyway, we'll see how happy Malfoy looks after our first Quidditch match," Fred said. "Gryffindor versus Slytherin, first game of the season, remember?" Harry grinned, helping himself to some food.

Hermione was examining her new schedule. "Ooh, good, we're starting some new subjects today." I looked over at her schedule. "Hermione, they've messed up your schedule. They've got you down for about ten subjects a day. There's not enough time."

"I'll manage. I fixed it with Professor McGonagall."

"But look," said Ron, laughing, "see this morning? Nine o'clock, Divination. And underneath, nine o'clock, Muggle Studies. And look, underneath _that_, Arithmancy, _nine o'clock_. I mean, I know you're good, Hermione, but nobody's _that_ good. How are you supposed to be in three classes at once?"

"Don't be silly. Of course I won't be in three classes at once."

"Well, then-"

"Pass the marmalade."

"But-"

"Ron, what's it to you if my schedule's a bit full? I told you, I've fixed it with Professor McGonagall."

Just then, Hagrid entered the Great Hall, wearing his moleskin overcoat and swinging a dead polecat in his hand. "All righ'? Yer in my firs' ever lesson! Right after lunch! Bin up since five gettin' everythin' ready...Hope it's okay...Me, a teacher, hones'ly..." I bit my lip nervously, watching him head for the staff table. "What's he been getting ready since five?"

The Great Hall started to empty as students began heading for their first lesson. "We'd better go, look, Divination's at the top of North Tower. It'll take us ten minutes to get there." We finished breakfast, said goodbye to Fred and George, and made our way out of the Great Hall. As we passed the Slytherin table, Malfoy did another imitation of a fainting fit, and the other Slytherins burst into laughter.

The trip to North Tower was a long one. Two years at Hogwarts hadn't taught us everything about the castle, and we'd never been to North Tower before. "There-has-got-to-be-a-shortcut-" Ron panted as we climbed our seventh set of stairs, coming to an unfamiliar landing, with nothing but a painting of a stretch of green grass hanging on the wall.

"I think it's this way," said Hermione, looking down the hallway to our right.

"Can't be. That's south, look, you can see the lake out of the window..."

I watched as a dapple-gray pony entered the painting and began grazing. A little while after, a short knight came clanking after it. Judging by the grass stains on his knees, he'd just fallen off. "Aha!" he shouted upon seeing us. "What villains are these, that trespass upon my private lands! Come to scorn at my fall, perchance? Draw, you knaves, you dogs!" We watched in disbelief as he drew his sword, brandishing it threateningly. The sword was too long, though, and he fell face-down into the grass.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked, stepping forwards.

"Get back, you scurvy braggart! Back, you rogue!" The knight seized his sword to pull himself up, but the blade sank deep into the grass, and no matter how hard he pulled, he couldn't get it out again. Finally, he flopped back down onto the grass, and pushed up his visor to wipe his sweaty face. "Listen, we're looking for North Tower. Do you know the way?"

The knight's face brightened. "A quest!" He got to his feet, his armor clanking, and shouted, "Come follow me, dear friends, and we shall find our goal, or else shall perish bravely in the charge!" I held back a giggle as he attempted to tug his sword out of the grass, tried and failed to mount his pony, gave up, and cried, "On foot, then, good sirs and gentle ladies! On! On!" He ran, clanking, into the left side of the picture and vanished from sight.

We ran after him down the corridor, following the sound of his armor. We occasionally saw him running through a picture up ahead. "Be of stout heart, the worst is yet to come!" he shouted as he ran through a painting of a startled group of women in crinolines. Panting hard, we climbed the spiral staircase until we finally heard the sound of voices above us and knew we'd reached the classroom.

"Farewell!" the knight said, popping his head into a painting of some evil-looking monks. "Farewell, my comrades-in-arms! If ever you have need of noble heart and steely sinew, call upon Sir Cadogan!"

"Yeah, we'll call you," Ron muttered as Sir Cadogan ran off, his armor clanking, "if we ever need someone mental."

We climbed the final few steps and found ourselves on a small landing, where the rest of the class was already waiting. There were no doors on the landing, but Ron nudged me, and pointed up at a circular trapdoor with a plaque on it. "Sybill Trelawney, Divination teacher," I read aloud. "How are we supposed to get up there?" In answer to my question, the trapdoor opened, and a ladder descended at our feet. Ron grinned over at Harry. "After you." We followed Harry as he climbed up the ladder.

Ron appeared at my shoulder as the rest of the class joined us. "Where is she?" A voice came from the shadows, a soft, misty type of voice. "Welcome. How nice to see you in the physical world at last. Sit, my children, sit." Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I sat around the same table.

"Welcome to Divination. My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye." Silence met her words, and she rearranged her shawl. "So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all the magical arts. I must warn you in advance that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can take you only so far in this field..." Harry, Ron and I grinned, glancing over at Hermione, who looked shocked that books wouldn't be much help in this subject.

"Many witches and wizards, talented though they may be in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearings, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future. It is a Gift granted to very few." She turned to Neville. "You, boy, is your grandmother well?"

"I-I think so."

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear." Neville gulped, and she continued. "We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, dear," she said to Parvati Patil, a girl in my dormitory, "beware a red-haired man." I rolled my eyes as Parvati edged her chair away from Ron.

"In the second term, we shall progress to the crystal ball-if we have finished with fire omens, that is. Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February due to a nasty outbreak of the flu. I myself will lose my voice. And around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever." She turned to Lavender Brown, who shrank back into her chair, looking frightened. "I wonder, dear, could you pass me the largest silver teapot?" Lavender let out a sigh of relief and handed Professor Trelawney the teapot. "Thank you, dear. Incidentally, that thing you are dreading-it will occur on Friday the sixteenth of October." Lavender's eyes widened.

"Now, I want you all to divide into pairs. Collect a teacup from the shelf, come to me, and I will fill it. Then sit down and drink, drink until only the dregs remain. Swill these around the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside down on its saucer, wait for the last of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of **_Unfogging the Future_**. Oh, and dear-" she looked at Neville as he stood up "-after you've broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue-patterned ones? I'm rather attached to the pink."

Five seconds later, a tinkling of breaking china came from the shelf of teacups. Professor Trelawney handed him a dustpan and brush and said, "One of the blue ones, then, dear, if you would be so kind...thank you..."

When we'd had our teacups filled, we tried to drink the hot tea quickly, and I swilled the dregs around the cup three times, then swapped with Hermione. "So, what can you see in my cup?" Hermione asked me, opening her book. "Um...I see...the cross...that means-" I consulted the book, "-trials and suffering; and you've also got the skull, which means...danger in your path. Well, looks like you're gonna have a depressing year."

Hermione snorted, and picked up my cup. "Let's see...in your cup, there's the sun, and that means great happiness; and you've also got the acorn, and that means a windfall of money. Looks like you're gonna have a great year." She grinned. "Wanna swap cups?" I smirked. "Thanks, but I think I prefer 'great happiness' to 'trials and suffering.'" Hermione and I burst into laughter.

We looked over at Harry and Ron. "Right. What can you see in mine?"

"A load of soggy brown stuff," Harry said, and I laughed quietly.

"Broaden your minds, my dears, and allow your eyes to see past the mundane!"

"Um...right. You've got a sort of crooked cross...that means 'trials and suffering'-sorry about that-but that there could be the sun, and that means...hold on...that means 'great happiness'...so you're gonna suffer, but be happy about it..."

"I think you need your Inner Eye tested, if you ask me," Ron said, and the four of us had to stifle our laughter as Professor Trelawney looked over at us. "Okay, my turn...there's a blob kind of like a bowler hat. Maybe you're going to work for the Ministry of Magic." Ron turned the cup around. "But this way it looks more like an acorn...what's that?" He peered down at his copy of **_Unfogging the Future_**. "That's 'a windfall, unexpected gold'...excellent, you can lend me some...and there's a thing here...yeah, if that's its head...it looks like a hippo...no, a sheep..."

Professor Trelawney came over as Harry, Hermione and I snorted loudly with laughter. "Let me see that, dear," she said, taking Harry's cup from Ron. Everyone fell silent, watching her. Professor Trelawney stared into the cup, rotating it counterclockwise. "The falcon...my dear, you have a deadly enemy."

"Everyone knows _that_," Hermione said loudly. Everybody stared at her. We'd never heard her talk like that to a teacher before. "Well, they do. Everybody knows about Harry and You-Know-Who." Professor Trelawney chose not to respond, but kept rotating Harry's cup. "The club...an attack. Dear, dear...this is not a happy cup."

"I thought that was a bowler hat."

"The skull...danger in your path..." She gave the cup a final turn and let out a shrill scream. There was another sound of tinkling china; Neville had broken his second cup. Professor Trelawney sank into her armchair, her hand over her eyes. "My dear boy...my poor boy...no, it is kinder not to say...no, don't ask me..."

"What is it, Professor?" Dean Thomas asked immediately. Everybody got to their feet, crowding around our table, trying to get a look at Harry's cup.

"My dear...you have the Grim."

"The what?" Dean Thomas and Lavender Brown looked confused as well, but nearly everybody else in the room clapped their hands to their mouths in horror.

"The Grim, my dear, the Grim! The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen-the worst omen-of _death_!" Everyone looked over at Harry, except for Hermione, who got up, studying Harry's cup. "_I_ don't think it looks like a Grim." Professor Trelawney looked at Hermione. "Forgive me for saying so, dear, but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future."

Seamus kept tilting his head from side to side. "It looks like a Grim if you do this," he said, his eyes almost shut, "but it looks more like a donkey this way," he said, tilting his head the other way.

"When you've all finished deciding whether I'm going to die or not!" Harry suddenly said loudly.

"I think we will leave the lesson here for today. Yes, please pack away your things..." I stuffed my book back into my bag, smirking at Trelawney's dramatics. "Until we meet again, may fair fortune be yours. Oh, and dear-" she pointed at Neville, who gulped, "-you'll be late next time, so make sure you work extra-hard to catch up."

* * *

We headed for McGonagall's Transfiguration class in silence, and it took us so long to find her classroom that we were only just in time. We were hardly listening to what McGonagall was saying about Animagi (wizards who could transform at will into animals) and weren't even watching when she transformed into a cat before our eyes.

"Really, what _has_ got into you all today?" McGonagall said, turning back into herself and looking around at us. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not gotten applause from a class." Hermione raised her hand. "Please, Professor, we just had our first Divination class, and we were reading the tea leaves-"

"Of course. There is no need to say any more, Miss Granger. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?" Silence fell over the class, and Harry finally spoke. "Me."

"I see. Then you should know, Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them have died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues-" McGonagall took a deep breath, and continued. "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I will not conceal from you the fact that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Sybill Trelawney-" McGonagall stopped again, and then said in a dry voice, "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off of homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."

Hermione and I laughed, and Harry grinned. Ron still looked worried, though, and Lavender whispered, "What about Neville's cup?"

* * *

When Transfiguration finished, we joined the throng headed for lunch in the Great Hall. "Oh, Ron, cheer up," Hermione said, pushing some stew towards him. "You heard what Professor McGonagall said."

"Harry, you haven't seen a great black dog anywhere, have you?"

"Yeah. I saw one the night I left the Dursleys'." Ron dropped his fork. "Probably a stray," Hermione said smoothly. Ron stared at her in disbelief. "Hermione, if Harry's seen a Grim, that's-that's bad! My-my Uncle Bilius saw one, and-and he died twenty-four hours later!"

"Coincidence."

"You don't know what you're talking about! Grims scare the living daylights out of most people!" Hermione scoffed. "There you are, then. They see the Grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Harry's still with us because he's not stupid enough to see one and think, right, well I'd better kick the bucket then!"

Ron stared at Hermione, who took out her Arithmancy book and began reading it. "I think Divination seems like a very wooly subject. A lot of guesswork, if you ask me."

"There was nothing wooly about the Grim in that cup!" I smirked. "You didn't seem so sure when you were telling Harry it was a sheep. Baaa." He glared at me, and Hermione burst into laughter. Ron turned to her, scowling. "Professor Trelawney said you didn't have the right aura! You just don't like being bad at something for a change!"

I winced as Hermione slammed her Arithmancy book shut, her eyes narrowed to slits. "If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in a lump of tea leaves, I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer! That lesson was absolute rubbish compared to my Arithmancy class!"

She grabbed her bag and stomped off, fuming. Ron looked over at me and Harry, confused. "What's she talking about? She hasn't been to an Arithmancy class yet."

* * *

Ron and Hermione still weren't speaking to each other as we headed down to Hagrid's for our first Care of Magical Creatures lesson. I spotted Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle ahead of us, sniggering about something; more likely than not, the fact that Harry had fainted on the train. Hagrid was waiting at the door of his cabin with Fang standing beside him.

"C'mon, now, get a move on! Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!" Five minutes later, we found ourselves outside a paddock. There was nothing there. "Everyone gather 'round the fence here! That's it-make sure yeh can see-now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books-"

"How?" Malfoy's voice interrupted him.

"What's that?"

"How do we open our books?" He took out his copy of **_A Monster Book of Monsters_**, which he had tied shut. The rest of else took out our books as well. Some had tied them shut, like Malfoy; and others had belted them shut, like me. "Hasn'-hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" Hagrid asked, looking around. We all shook our heads.

"Yeh've got ter _stroke_ 'em. Look-" He took Hermione's copy and ripped off the Spellotape on it. The book tried to bite, but Hagrid ran a finger down its spine, and it trembled, then fell open, lying quiet in his hand.

"Oh, how silly we've all been! We should have _stroked_ it! How foolish of us! Why didn't we guess?"

"I-I thought they were funny," Hagrid said weakly to Hermione."Oh, tremendously funny! Giving us a book that could rip our hands off!"

Harry glared at Malfoy. "Shut up, Malfoy."

"Righ' then. So-so yeh've got yer books an'-an'-now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on..." He walked off into the forest and out of sight.

"God, this place is going to the dogs. That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him-"

"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry said again.

"Careful, Potter, there's a dementor behind you-"

Suddenly, coming towards us were the strangest creatures I'd ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses; but had the front legs, wings, and heads of what looked like giant eagles. The creatures were wearing thick collars attached to a chain, all of which were held by Hagrid. "Get up, there!" he shouted, shaking the chains as he came over to the fence where we were standing.

"Hippogriffs! Beaut'iful, aren' they? So, if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer-" Harry, Hermione, Ron and I approached the hippogriffs warily. "Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' hippogriffs is, they're proud. Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do."

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were muttering under their breath, and I had a feeling they were trying to figure out how to disrupt the class.

"Yeh always wait fer the hippogriff ter make the firs' move. It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, an' yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt. Right-who wants ter go first?"

Most of the class backed off, and I bit my lip. Hagrid glanced around at us. "No one?"

After a few minutes, Harry spoke up. "I'll do it."

Most of the class sucked in their breath, and Parvati whispered, "Oh no, Harry, remember your tea leaves!"

Harry ignored them as he climbed over the fence. "Good man, Harry! Right then-let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak." He led the gray hippogriff away from the other ones, slipping off its collar.

"Easy now, Harry. Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink...Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much..." Harry approached Buckbeak who eyed him suspiciously. "Tha's it. Tha's it, Harry...now, bow..." Harry gave a bow, looking up at Buckbeak. Buckbeak was still staring at him, and didn't move. "Right, back away, now, Harry, easy does it-"

Just then, Buckbeak sank into a bow. "Well done, Harry! Right-yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!" Harry moved slowly towards Buckbeak, patting him on the beak, and the hippogriff closed its eyes lazily. All except for Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, we burst into applause.

"Righ' then, Harry. I reckon he might let yeh ride him! Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint, an' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that." Harry climbed onto Buckbeak's back, and Buckbeak stood up. "Go on, then!" Hagrid yelled, slapping his hindquarters, and twelve-foot wings flapped open, and soared upwards.

Buckbeak flew around the paddock once, then landed back on the ground. "Good work, Harry! Okay, who else wants a go?" The rest of us climbed over the fence. Neville ran backwards from his hippogriff, which didn't seem to want to bow. Ron, Hermione, and I practiced on the chestnut. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak. He had just bowed to Malfoy, who was patting him, looking smug. "This is very easy. I knew it must've been, if Potter could do it. I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you, you great ugly brute?"

The next second, Malfoy had let out a scream and Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he fought to get at Malfoy, who was lying on the ground, blood spreading over his robes. "I'm dying! I'm dying! Look at me, it's killed me!"

"Yer not dyin'!" Hagrid said, his face pale. "Someone help me-gotta get him outta here-" Hermione and I ran to hold the gate open as he picked Malfoy up. There was a deep gash on Malfoy's arm, and Hagrid ran up to the castle with Malfoy in his arms.

Shaken, we followed him. The Slytherins were all yelling about Hagrid. "They should fire him straight away!" Pansy Parkinson said.

"It was Malfoy's fault!"

"I'm going to see if he's okay!" Pansy said, running up the marble stairs.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I headed for the Gryffindor common room, worrying about Hagrid. "D'you think he'll be all right?" Hermione said quietly.

"'Course he will. Madam Pomfrey can mend cuts in a second," Harry said.

"That was a really bad thing to happen in Hagrid's first class, wasn't it? Trust Malfoy to mess it up for him..." Ron muttered.

* * *

We were among the first to reach the Great Hall for dinner, hoping to see him, but Hagrid wasn't at the staff table. "They wouldn't fire him, would they?" Hermione said, staring down at her untouched food.

"They'd better not," Ron said, who wasn't eating either. We looked over at the Slytherin table. A large mass of Slytherins, including Crabbe and Goyle, had their heads together, obviously making up their own version of how Malfoy had gotten hurt. I sighed. "Well, you can't say it wasn't an interesting first day back."

We went back up to the common room after dinner, trying to focus on our Transfiguration homework, but kept glancing out the window. "There's a light on in Hagrid's window," Harry suddenly said. Ron checked his watch. "If we hurry, we can go and see him. It's still quite early..." Hermione bit her lip, looking over at Harry. "I don't know..."

"I'm allowed to walk across the _grounds_. Sirius Black hasn't got past the dementors here, has he?" We put our things away and left the common room through the portrait hole, relieved that we didn't run into anyone along the way, as we weren't entirely sure we were allowed to be out.

When we reached Hagrid's cabin, we knocked, and his voice growled, "C'min."

Hagrid was sitting at his wooden table, and Fang had his head in Hagrid's lap. One glance told us that he was incredibly drunk. There was a tank almost as big as a bucket in front of him, and he seemed to have difficulty getting us into focus. "'Spect it's a record. Don' reckon they've ever had a teacher who's on'y lasted a day before."

Hermione gasped. "You haven't been fired, Hagrid!"

"Not yet. But's only a matter o' time, i'n't it, after Malfoy..."

"How is he?" Ron asked as we sat down. "It's not serious, is it?"

"Madam Pomfrey fixed him best she could, but he's sayin' it's still agony...covered in bandages...moanin'..."

"He's faking it, Hagrid. Madam Pomfrey can heal anything. She regrew half my bones last year. Trust Malfoy to milk it for all it's worth."

"School gov'nors have bin told, o' course. They reckon I started too big. Shoulda left hippogriffs fer later...done flobberworms or summat...Jus' thought it'd make a good firs' lesson...'S all my fault..."

"It's all Malfoy's fault!" Hermione said.

"Yeah, we're witnesses, Hagrid," I said. "You said hippogriffs attack if you insult them. It's Malfoy's problem that he wasn't paying attention. We'll tell Dumbledore what really happened."

"Yeah, don't worry, Hagrid, we'll back you up," Ron said.

Tears fell from Hagrid's eyes, and he pulled me, Harry, and Ron into a tight hug. "I think you've had quite enough to drink, Hagrid," Hermione said sternly. She took the tankard and went outside to empty it. "Ar, maybe she's right," Hagrid said, releasing the three of us, and we massaged our ribs, gasping for air. Hagrid got out of his chair and followed her outside, and we heard a loud splash. "What's he done?" Harry asked Hermione as she came back in with the empty tankard.

"Stuck his head in the water barrel."

Hagrid came back in, his long hair and beard soaking wet as he wiped the water out of his eyes. "Tha's better. Listen, it was good of yeh ter come an' see me, I really-" He blinked at us, as if just realizing we were there. "WHAT D'YEH THINK YOU'RE DOIN', EH?! YEH'RE NOT TO GO WANDERIN' AROUND AFTER DARK, HARRY! AN' YOU THREE! LETTIN' 'HIM!" Hagrid strode over to Harry, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the door.

"C'mon! I'm takin' yeh all back up ter the school, an' don' let me catch yeh walkin' down ter see me after dark again! I'm not worth that!"


	3. Chapter 3

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER THREE:**

* * *

Malfoy didn't show up for classes until late Thursday morning when we were halfway through double Potions with the Slytherins. He strutted into the the dungeon, his right arm bandaged and in a sling, acting like the heroic survivor of some violent battle. "How is it, Draco?" Pansy asked him as he sat down beside her. "Does it hurt much?"

"Yeah," he said, grimacing. As she turned away, he winked at Crabbe and Goyle. "Settle down, settle down," Snape said. Harry, Ron, and I frowned at each other. Snape would definitely _not_ have said "Settle down" if _we'd_ walked in late; he'd give us detention. It just proved that Snape favored those in Slytherin above all others.

We were working on a new potion today, a Shrinking Solution. Malfoy set his cauldron right next to us, so that we were preparing our ingredients at the same table. "Professor, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots because of my arm-"

"Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him," Snape said without looking up. Ron glared at Malfoy. "There's nothing wrong with your arm." Malfoy smirked at him. "Weasley, you heard Professor Snape; cut up my roots." Ron grabbed his knife and began to chop up Malfoy's roots roughly so that they were different sizes.

"Weasley's mutilating my roots, sir." Snape approached us, and looked down at Malfoy's roots, then smirked at Ron. "Change roots with Malfoy, Weasley."

"But, sir-!" Ron had just spent the last fifteen minutes shredding his roots carefully into equal pieces.

_"Now."_

Ron shoved his roots over at Malfoy, and took the knife up again.

"Sir, I'll need this shrivelfig skinned," Malfoy said with laughter in his voice.

"Potter, you can skin Malfoy's shrivelfig." Harry skinned Malfoy's shrivelfig as fast as he could, then shoved it back at him.

"Seen your pal Hagrid lately?"

"None of your business," I snarled, scowling down into my cauldron.

"I'm afraid he won't be a teacher much longer," Malfoy said, looking not at all sorry. "Father's not very happy about my injury-"

"Keep talking, Malfoy, and I'll give you a real injury," I growled.

"-he's complained to the school governors. _And_ to the Ministry of Magic. Father's got a lot of influence, you know. And with a lasting injury like this-" he heaved a huge, fake sigh, "-who knows if my arm will ever be the same again?"

"So that's why you're putting it on," Harry said, accidentally cutting off a dead caterpillar's head. "To try to get Hagrid fired."

"Well, partly, Potter. But there are other benefits, too. Weasley, slice my caterpillars for me." Ron bared his teeth at him as he picked up his knife.

Three cauldrons away, Neville was struggling again. He always fell apart in Potions class, and his fear of Snape didn't help at all. His potion, which was supposed to be a bright, acid green, had turned-

"Orange, Longbottom," Snape said, ladling some up and splashing it back into the cauldron so everyone could see. "Orange. Tell me, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn't I plainly say that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?"

Neville was trembling, and his lower lip was trembling. Hermione thrust her hand into the air. "Please, sir, please, I could help Neville put it right-"

"I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger." Hermione slowly lowered her hand. "Longbottom, at the end of this lesson, I will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happens. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly." Snape moved away, leaving a wide-eyed Neville behind. "Help me!" he moaned to Hermione.

"Hey, Harry," Seamus muttered, reaching over to borrow his brass scales, "have you heard? _Daily Prophet_ this morning-they reckon Sirius Black has been sighted."

"Where?!" Harry, Ron, and I said quickly. "Not too far from here. It was a Muggle who saw him. 'Course, she didn't really understand. The Muggles just think he's an ordinary criminal, don't they? So she phoned the telephone hotline, but by the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone."

"Not too far from here..." Ron said, looking over at Harry. We turned around to see Malfoy watching us. "What, Malfoy? Need something else skinned?"

Malfoy leaned across the table, smirking. "Thinking of trying to catch Black single-handed, Potter?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Of course, if it was me, I would've done something before now. I wouldn't be staying in school like a good boy. I'd be out there looking for him."

"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" Harry asked, glaring at him.

"Don't you _know_, Potter?"

"Know _what_?" Malfoy let out a quiet laugh. "Maybe you'd rather not risk your neck. Want to leave it to the dementors, do you? But if it was me, I'd want revenge. I'd hunt him down myself."

_"What are you talking about!?"_

At that moment, Snape called out, "You should have finished adding your ingredients by now. This potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clear your things away and we'll test Longbottom's..." Crabbe and Goyle laughed, watching Neville stirring his potion desperately, and Hermione muttered instructions out of the corner of her mouth to him so Snape wouldn't see.

We packed away our unused ingredients and washed our hands and ladles in the basin in the corner. "What did Malfoy mean?" Harry muttered to Ron. "Why would I want revenge on Black? He hasn't done anything to me-yet."

"He's just making it up. He's trying to make you do something stupid."

With the end of the lesson drawing nearer, Snape approached Neville, who shook with fear. "Everyone gather 'round and watch what happens to Longbottom's toad. If he has managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don't doubt, he has done it wrong, his toad is likely to be poisoned." Snape picked up Trevor and dipped a small spoon into his potion, which was now green. A couple drops went down Trevor's throat, and suddenly, Trevor the tadpole was squirming in Snape's hand. Snape pulled a small bottle from his pocket and trickled some of it on Trevor, who reappeared fully grown.

"Five points from Gryffindor," Snape said, wiping the smiles off all of the Gryffindor's faces. "Miss Granger, I believe I told you not to help him. Class dismissed."

We climbed the steps to the entrance hall, with Ron still fuming over what Snape had said. "Five points from Gryffindor because the potion was all right! Why didn't you lie, Hermione!? You should've said Neville did it all by himself!"

Hermione didn't answer. We turned around to see that she had vanished. "Where is she? She was right behind us." Harry glanced around, then pointed back at the bottom of the stairs. Hermione was hurrying up towards us, clutching her bag in one hand, while tucking something down her robes with the other. "How did you do that?" I asked her.

"Do what?"

"One minute, you were right beside us, and the next you were at the bottom of the stairs again."

"I had to go back for something. Oh, no-" A seam had split on her bag, and all her books fell out onto the floor. "Why are you carrying all these around with you?"

"You know how many subjects I'm taking. Could you hold these for me?" Hermione shoved some books into Ron's arms as she cast a spell to mend the rip. "But-" Ron looked down at the books she'd handed him. "You haven't got any of these subjects today. It's only Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon."

"Oh, yes," Hermione said, but put the books back into her mended bag all the same. "I hope there's something good for lunch. I'm starving," she said, and headed for the Great Hall. Ron looked over at me and Harry. "D'you get the feeling there's something she's not telling us?"

* * *

Professor Lupin wasn't there when we arrived at his first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. We sat down, taking out our books when he walked in. "Good afternoon. Put your books back in your bags, please. Today's will be a practical lesson." We exchanged looks as we stowed our books back in our bags. We'd never had a practical lesson before, unless you counted last year, when Lockhart had set some pixies loose.

"Right, then. Please follow me." With that, he led us out of the classroom. We turned the corner and saw Peeves sticking some gum in the keyhole to a door nearby. "I'd take that gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves. Mr. Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms." Peeves ignored him, and Professor Lupin sighed, pulling out his wand.

"This is a useful little spell. Please watch closely." He pointed his wand at Peeves. "Waddiwasi!" The gum shot out of the keyhole and up Peeves's left nostril; he zoomed off, cursing loudly.

"Cool, sir!" Dean said in awe.

"Thank you, Dean. Shall we proceed?" He led us down another corridor and we stopped in front of the staffroom door. Professor Lupin opened it, motioning for us to follow him inside. The room was empty except for Snape, who was sitting in a chair by the fireplace. As Professor Lupin started to close the door, Snape spoke. "Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this."

He stood up, making his way to the door. "It may be that no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear." I glared at Snape as Neville turned red. Professor Lupin smiled. "I was hoping that Neville would assist me in the first stage of the operation, and I'm sure he will do admirably." Neville's face went even redder, and Snape's lip curled, and he whirled around, shutting the door behind him.

"Now, then," he led us over to an old wardrobe where the teachers kept their spare robes. It wobbled suddenly, banging off of the wall, causing us to jump in alarm. "There's nothing to worry about. There's a boggart in there." Some of us stared at him in disbelief.

"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces. Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks-I once met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it in order to give my third-years some practice. So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what _is_ a boggart?" Hermione's hand flew into the air. "It's a shape-shifter. It takes the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us the most."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Lupin said, and Hermione beamed. "So the boggart within the wardrobe has not yet assumed a form. He doesn't know yet what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart will look like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will become whatever each of us fears the most. This means that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"

Hermione's hand shot into the air, and Harry mulled it over. "Um-because there are so many of us, it doesn't know what it should be?"

"Precisely." Hermione lowered her hand, looking disappointed. "It's always best to have company when dealing with a boggart, because he becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake-attempted to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening. The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape you find amusing. We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please. _Riddikulus_!"

_"Riddikulus!"_

"Good, very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville." Neville let out a small squeak of terror, and approached the wardrobe. "Right, Neville. First things first: what would you say frightens you most?" Neville's lips moved, but nothing came out.

"Sorry, didn't catch that."

"Professor Snape."

We all laughed, and the wardrobe wobbled. Professor Lupin frowned, thinking this over. "Professor Snape...hmmm...Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"

"Yes, but I don't want the boggart to turn into her, either."

"No, no. You misunderstand me. Could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"

"Well...always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress...green, normally...and sometimes a fox-fur scarf."

"And a handbag?"

"A big red one."

"Right. Now, can you picture those clothes very clearly in your mind?"

"Yes..."

Professor Lupin smiled at him. "When the boggart bursts out of the wardrobe and assumes the form of Professor Snape, here's what I want you to do. Raise your wand-like this-and cry _Riddikulus_-and focus hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape should be forced into your grandmother's outfit."

We all laughed at this, and the wardrobe shook violently. "If he is successful, the boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn. I would like each of you to take a moment to think about what scares you the most, and how you might force it into something you find amusing."

I heard Ron muttering, "Take its legs off," and I knew he was referring to a spider. If there was one thing he feared above all else in the world, it was spiders.

Then my thoughts shifted to what my greatest fear might be. Suddenly, the experience I'd had with the werewolf flashed into my mind. But...how could I possibly make that look funny?

"Everyone ready?_"_

"All right. We're going to back away now so Neville can have a clear field. I'll call the next person forward."

When he said this, I immediately made my way to the very back of the line.

"Everyone back now, so Neville can get a clear shot-" We stepped back, leaving Neville alone in the front of the wardrobe. "On the count of three, Neville." Professor Lupin pointed his wand at the handle to the wardrobe. "One-two-three-now!"

Sparks issued from his wand, and the door slowly opened. Professor Snape stepped out, his eyes on Neville._ "R-Riddikulus!"_

There was a crack, and Snape was suddenly wearing Neville's grandmother's clothes. We all burst into laughter, and the boggart stopped, confused.

"Parvati! Forward!" Parvati stepped forward, and there was another crack, revealing bandaged, blood-stained mummy. _"Riddikulus!" _The mummy's cloth started unraveling, and it tripped, falling at her feet.

"Seamus!" A banshee replaced the mummy. She opened her mouth, and a ear-piercing shriek filled the air. _"Riddikulus!"_ There was another crack, and she grasped her throat. Her voice was gone.

_Crack_-The banshee turned into a rat, which ran in a circle, then-_crack_-turned into a became a rattlesnake, which writhed before-_crack_-became a bloody eyeball.

"It's becoming confused! We're getting there! Dean!" The eyeball became a severed hand, which began to crawl along the floor. _"Riddikulus!"_ The hand became entangled in a mousetrap.

"Excellent! Ron!" Most of the people in the class screamed. A huge spider stood before us, and I thought for a moment that Ron had frozen. _"Riddikulus!"_ The spider's legs disappeared, and it rolled around before coming to a stop in front of Harry. He raised his wand, ready, but Professor Lupin jumped in front of him. A silvery-white orb appeared in midair, and Professor Lupin waved his wand. _"Riddikulus!" _

_Crack!_

"Finish him off, Neville!" The boggart landed on the floor as a cockroach, and Neville rushed forward as Snape reappeared. "Riddikulus!" We had a split-second view of Snape in the lacy dress before the boggart vanished.

"Excellent! Well done, everyone! Let me see...five points to Gryffindor for everyone who tackled the boggart...ten for Neville because he did it twice...and five each to Harry and Hermione."

"But I didn't do anything," Harry said.

"You and Hermione answered my questions correctly at the start of class, Harry. Homework-read the chapter on boggarts and summarize it for me, to be handed in on Monday. That will be all."

I left the class, listening to the others chattering excitedly about how they had taken on the boggart.

"That was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson we'd ever had, wasn't it?"

"He seems like a very good teacher," Hermione agreed. "But I wished I could've had a turn with the boggart..." Ron snorted. "What would it have been for you? Homework that only got nine out of ten?"


	4. Chapter 4

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER FOUR:**

* * *

Two weeks later, I sat in the library, poring over my copy of **_A History of Muggles _**for my assignment on the Revolutionary War in the United States. Malfoy was also in the library, talking loudly about Professor Lupin. "Look at the state of his robes," he said as Lupin passed by. "He dresses like our old house-elf."

I rolled my eyes. His following classes were just as good as the first. We studied Red Caps, goblin-like creatures that hung around wherever there was bloodshed; then kappas, water-dwellers that resembled scaly monkeys with webbed hands ready to strangle waders in their ponds.

Potions, however, sucked. Snape was in a worse mood than ever, and everyone knew why. The tale of the boggart Snape being dressed in Neville's grandmother's clothes had spread throughout the school, and Snape was furious, bullying Neville worse than ever.

Worse still were the Divination classes. Professor Trelawney was starting to grate on my nerves, what with her constantly "predicting" death omens. I didn't like Care of Magical Creatures either, and neither did any of the other students. After the first exciting class, Care of Magical Creatures had developed into an extremely dull class. We were now looking after flobberworms, possibly the dullest creatures on the face of the earth.

"Why would anyone bother looking after them?" Ron asked after an hour of poking lettuce down the flobberworms' throats.

* * *

Around the beginning of October, Harry started Quidditch practices again. We looked up from our star charts one evening as he entered the common room. "How'd practice go?"

"Good." Harry glanced around the common room. "What's got everyone so excited?" I pointed at the bulletin board. "First Hogsmeade weekend." Ron nodded, grinning. "End of October. Halloween." Fred came over, followed by George. "Excellent. I'm almost out of Stink Pellets." I laughed at this. George stroked Midnight, who had just leapt into his lap.

"Harry, I'm sure you'll be able to go next time. Black's been spotted once already." Ron scoffed. "Oh, come on, Hermione. Black's not stupid enough to try anything in Hogsmeade. Ask McGonagall if you can go, Harry. The next one might not be for ages."

"Ron! Harry's supposed to stay in school!"

"Yeah, I think I will."

Hermione began to argue, but Crookshanks leapt into her lap, a dead spider in his mouth. "Does he have to eat that thing in front of us?"

"Oh, clever Crookshanks, did you catch that yourself?" Crookshanks chewed it up, his eyes fixed on Ron. "Just keep him over there. I've got Scabbers asleep in my bag."

Harry yawned, reaching to start his own star chart. "You can copy mine, if you want," Ron offered, who'd just finished his. Hermione glared at Ron, but didn't say anything. Suddenly, Crookshanks pounced on Ron's bag. "HEY! GET OFF, YOU STUPID ANIMAL!" Ron grabbed his bag, trying to shake Crookshanks off. "Ron, don't hurt him!" Ron spun the bag in a wide arc, Crookshanks still clinging on, and Scabbers flew out of the bag.

"CATCH THAT CAT!" Ron yelled as Crookshanks let go of his bag and sped after Scabbers. George dived at Crookshanks but missed; Scabbers ran through people's legs, and took refuge under a chest of drawers. Crookshanks skidded to a stop, and began swiping his paw under the chest of drawers, trying to get at Scabbers.

Ron and Hermione ran over. Hermione grabbed Crookshanks, pulling him away, and Ron retrieved a trembling Scabbers from beneath the chest of drawers. "Look at him! He's skin and bone! You keep that stupid cat away from him!"

"Crookshanks doesn't understand it's wrong, Ron! All cats chase rats!"

"Oh, yeah!? Well, I don't see Midnight trying to constantly kill Scabbers!" I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. _That's probably because she prefers food with more meat on them._

"Besides, there's something funny about that cat! It heard me say Scabbers was in my bag!"

"That's stupid! Crookshanks could smell him, Ron, how else do you think-"

"That cat's got it in for Scabbers!" People were started to laugh quietly, but he ignored them. "Scabbers was here first, _and_ he's ill!" Ron turned and stormed upstairs to his dormitory.

* * *

Ron barely spoke to Hermione in Herbology the next morning, even though we were all working on the same table. "How's Scabbers?"

"He's hiding at the bottom of my bed, shaking." Ron missed the pail, accidentally scattering beans all over the floor of the greenhouse. "Careful, Weasley!" Professor Sprout shouted as the beans bloomed in front of our eyes.

Transfiguration was next. Before we could enter, though, we were distracted by something happening at the front of the line. Lavender Brown was crying. "What's the matter, Lavender?"

"She got a letter from home this morning. Her rabbit, Binky, was killed by a fox."

"I'm sorry, Lavender."

"I-I should've known! D-Do you know what today is?"

"Um-"

"The sixteenth of October! 'That thing you're dreading, it will happen on the sixteenth of October!' Remember? She was right!" Hermione was quiet for a few seconds, and then spoke. "You were dreading Binky being killed by a fox?"

"W-well, not necessarily by a fox, but I was obviously dreading him dying, wasn't I?"

"Oh." Hermione was quiet again. "Was Binky an old rabbit?"

"N-no! H-he was only a b-baby!"

"But...then why would you dread him dying?" Parvati stared at Hermione, her arm still around Lavender. "Well, look at it logically. I mean, Binky didn't even die today. Lavender just got the news today." Lavender began sobbing even louder. "And she can't have been dreading it, because it's come as a real shock."

"Don't mind Hermione, Lavender," Ron said loudly. "Hermione doesn't think other people's pets matter very much." McGonagall opened the door just then, which was incredibly lucky, seeing as Hermione and Ron were glaring daggers at each other. When we entered class, they sat themselves on either side of me and Harry, and didn't speak to each other for the entire lesson.

Finally, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Before we got up to leave, McGonagall held up her hand. "One moment, please! As you are all in my House, you should hand in your Hogsmeade permission forms before Halloween. No form, no visiting the village, so don't forget!" Neville raised his hand. "Professor, I think I lost-"

"Your grandmother sent me your form directly, Longbottom. She apparently thought it would be safer that way. Well, that's all. You may leave." I nudged Harry. "Ask her." Hermione bit her lip. "Harry, I don't think-"

"Go for it," Ron said, ignoring her.

We waited outside the classroom for Harry, and he came out two minutes later, looking depressed, which obviously stated the results.

* * *

On Halloween morning, we headed for breakfast. Hermione glanced over at Harry. "Don't worry, Harry. We'll bring you back lots of sweets from Honeydukes." Ron nodded. "Yeah, loads." I smiled. "I'll pick up some stuff for you from Zonko's, okay?"

"Don't worry. I'll be okay. See you at the feast." He followed us to the entrance hall, where Filch was checking off names, making sure nobody was trying to sneak out who shouldn't be going. "See you, Harry."

* * *

I wandered through the streets of Hogsmeade with Ron and Hermione, looking around at all the various shops. We went into Zonko's first, where we picked up some Dungbombs, Frog Spawn Soap, and Sugar Quills for Harry. We hit Honeydukes next, buying four bags full of sweets that we thought Harry might like. After that, we went the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer.

Finally, I had us stop at the post office, so I could send a letter to Dracula that I had hidden in my coat. He'd insisted I come up with an alias for him so nobody knew we were associated with each other.

"Who's Drake?" I froze, noticing that Hermione was looking over my shoulder. "H-He's a friend." Hermione checked her watch. "We have to get back soon. Harry'll be waiting." I nodded as the owl flew off. "Right. Let's go."

As I followed Hermione and Ron out of the castle, I let out a small sigh of relief.

* * *

"There you are. Got as much as we could carry." Ron, Hermione and I set down the bags of Honeydukes sweets and Zonko's products beside Harry. "Thanks." He picked up a small bag of Pepper Imps. "What's Hogsmeade like? Where'd you go?"

"Honeydukes has a new kind of fudge; they were giving out free samples, look-"

"We think we saw an ogre, they get all sorts at the Three Broomsticks, really-"

"Wish we could've brought you some butterbeer, really warms you up-"

"We went into the post office, too. Almost two hundred owls, all sitting on different shelves, all color-coded depending on how fast you wanted them to get there!"

Hermione looked over at Harry. "What did you do? Did you get any work done?" Harry shook his head. "No. Lupin made me a cup of tea. Then Snape came in..." He told us all about Snape giving Lupin the potion. We stared at him, dumbstruck. "He drank it?! Is he mad?!"

Hermione looked at her watch. "We'd better head down to the Great Hall. The feast starts in five minutes." We went through the portrait hole. Hermione glanced around. "But if he-you know-if he _was_ trying to poison Lupin-he wouldn't have done it in front of Harry."

We entered the Great Hall. It'd been decorated with hundreds of giant lantern-filled pumpkins, live bats, and many bright orange streamers. The food was delicious. Even though me, Ron, and Hermione were full to the brim of Honeydukes sweets, we managed to get seconds of everything.

The feast finished with entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts. They came out of the walls and did some formation gliding; Nearly Headless Nick had an excellent success with a reenactment of his own botched beheading.

The evening was so great that Harry was grinning even after Malfoy shouted "The dementors send their love, Potter!" in his direction as we left the Great Hall.

We followed the rest of the Gryffindors up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, but the corridor outside the Fat Lady's portrait was jammed with students. "What's going on?"

"Looks like the portrait's closed." I frowned at Harry's words. "How could it be closed?"

Percy's voice came through the crowd just then. "Let me through, please. I'm Head Boy." Silence fell for a few minutes, and then Percy spoke again. "Get Professor Dumbledore. Quick."

"What's going on?" Ginny asked, who had just shown up. I shrugged. "No idea..." A minute later, Dumbledore arrived, making his way toward the portrait. As the other students stepped aside to let him pass, we moved slightly closer, and Hermione gasped. The Fat Lady had disappeared from her portrait, which had been slashed so violently that pieces of canvas lay on the floor.

Dumbledore inspected the portrait, then turned as Snape, McGonagall and Lupin showed up, his eyes serious. "We must find her. Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!" said a laughing voice overhead. We looked up to see Peeves floating above us, looking delighted at the chaos.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore asked, and Peeves's grin faded slightly. He wasn't idiotic enough to taunt Dumbledore, so he took on an oily voice no better than his usual cackle. "Ashamed, your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. Horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between trees." He grinned. "She was crying something dreadful. Poor thing," he added, though he was still grinning.

"Did she say who did it?"

"Oh, yes, Professorhead," Peeves said, smirking. "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in." He flipped over in midair, grinning at Dumbledore from between his own legs. "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."


	5. Chapter 5

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER FIVE:**

* * *

Dumbledore sent us Gryffindors back to the Great Hall, where we were shortly joined by the students from the other Houses, who all looked confused. "The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," Dumbledore told us as Flitwick and McGonagall closed all doors into the hall. "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard, and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately," he added, and Percy puffed out his chest, looking important. "Send word with one of the ghosts."

He turned to leave the hall, paused, and turned back around. "Oh, yes, you'll be needing-" Dumbledore waved his wand, and the tables flew to the edges of the hall and stood themselves against the wall. He flicked his wand again, and hundreds of sleeping bags covered the floor. "Sleep well," Dumbledore said, closing the doors behind him.

The students immediately began talking in low whispers as we Gryffindors told the rest of the school what had happened.

"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" Percy shouted. "No more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"

"Come on," Ron muttered, and he, Hermione, Harry and I grabbed four sleeping bags and dragged them into a corner. "Do you think Black's still in the castle?" Hermione whispered to us, her voice laced with worry.

"Dumbledore obviously thinks so."

"It's lucky he picked tonight, you know. The one night we weren't in the tower..." Ron nodded. "I reckon he's lost track of time, being on the run, and all. Didn't realize it was Halloween, otherwise he would've come bursting in here." All around us, I could hear everyone asking the same question: "How did he get in?"

"Maybe he knows how to Apparate," a Ravenclaw said a few feet from us.

"Disguised himself, probably," a Hufflepuff whispered.

"He could've flown in," Dean Thomas said quietly.

Hermione scoffed. "Honestly, am I the _only_ person who's ever bothered to actually read **_Hogwarts: A History_**?"

"Probably," Ron said. "Why?"

"Because this castle's protected by more than walls, you know. There are all sorts of enchantments on it, to stop people from entering by stealth. You can't just Apparate in here. And I'd like to see the disguise that could fool those dementors. They're guarding every entrance to the grounds. They would've seen him fly in too. And Filch knows all the secret passages, they'll have them covered..."

"The lights are going out now!" Percy shouted. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags, and no more talking!" The candles all went out at once. The only light in the hall was the light coming from the ghosts drifting about the hall.

Every hour, a teacher would show up to see if everything was quiet. Around three in the morning, Dumbledore showed up. We quickly pretended to be asleep as Dumbledore approached Percy, who was only a few feet from us. "Any luck, Professor?"

"No. All well here?"

"Everything's under control, sir."

"Good. There's no point moving them all now. I've found a temporary guardian for the Gryffindor portrait hole. You'll be able to move them back in tomorrow."

"What about the Fat Lady, sir?"

"She's hiding in a map of Argyllshire on the second floor. Apparently she refused to let Black in without the password, so he attacked. She's still distressed, but once she's calmed down, I'll have Mr. Filch restore her."

The door to the hall creaked again, and another pair of footsteps approached. Snape's voice came out of the darkness. "Headmaster, the whole of the third floor has been searched. He's not there. And Filch has done the dungeons; nothing there either."

"What about the Astronomy Tower? Professor Trelawney's room? The Owlery?"

"All searched."

"Very well. I didn't really expect Black to linger."

"Have you any theory as to how he got in, Headmaster?"

"Many, Severus, each as unlikely as the next."

"You remember the conversation we had, Headmaster, just before the start of term?"

"I do, Severus." Dumbledore's voice seemed to have a slight hint of warning in it.

"It seems-almost impossible-that Black could have entered the school without inside help. I did express my concerns when you appointed-"

"I do not believe that a single person in this castle would help Sirius Black to enter it." Snape didn't reply, seeing as Dumbledore had made it quite obvious from his tone of voice that the subject was closed. "Now, I must go down to the dementors. I said I would inform them when our search was complete."

"Didn't they want to help, sir?" Percy asked.

"Oh, yes. But no dementor will cross the threshold of this castle while I am headmaster." I opened my eyes slightly and saw Percy looking slightly embarrassed. Dumbledore turned and left the hall. Snape watched him leave, a sullen look on his face, and then left.

I looked over at the others. "What was that all about?" Ron mouthed at us.

* * *

The entire school talked of nothing but Sirius Black for the next few days. Ideas as to how he managed to enter the castle got more and more absurd. A girl from Hufflepuff was of the opinion that he was able to turn himself into a flowering shrub.

The Fat Lady's shredded canvas had been taken off the wall and replaced with the portrait of Sir Cadogan and his fat gray pony. None of us Gryffindors were happy about this. He spent half of his time challenging people to duels, and the other half making up ridiculously complicated passwords, which he changed at least twice a day.

"He's a complete lunatic," Ron said furiously to Percy one morning. "Can't we have anyone else?" Percy shook his head. "None of the other portraits wanted the job. Scared of what happened to the Fat Lady. Sir Cadogan was the only one brave enough to volunteer."

Harry was also being closely watched by the teachers, and Percy seemed to be following the four of us everywhere when he wasn't in class.

A little while later, Harry told us that McGonagall had almost decided to keep the Gryffindor Quidditch team from practicing in the evenings, but finally had agreed that they could train as long as Madam Hooch to oversee their practices.

* * *

The weather got worse as the first Quidditch match drew ever nearer, but Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor team were practicing harder than ever. One evening, Harry came back to the common room, scowling. "Harry, what's wrong?"

"We're not playing Slytherin! We're playing Hufflepuff instead!"

"What?!"

"Apparently, their excuse is that Malfoy's arm is still injured." I snorted, and he continued. "Anyway, we'd been practicing our moves based on the idea that we're playing Slytherin. Hufflepuff has an entirely different style."

"Don't worry, Harry. It'll be okay."

* * *

The day before the match, I entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with the other students to see Snape standing there. Figuring it was best not to ask questions, we sat down.

Ten minutes later, Harry came running into the room, out of breath. "Sorry I'm late, Professor Lupin, I-"

"This lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I'll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down." Harry remained standing. "Where's Professor Lupin?"

"He says he is feeling too ill to teach today. I believe I told you to sit down?"

"What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing life-threatening. Five more points from Gryffindor, and if I have to ask you to sit down again, it will be fifty." Harry sat down beside Hermione.

"As I was saying before Potter interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far-" Hermione's hand shot into the air. "Please, sir, we've done boggarts, Red Caps, kappas, and grindylows. We're just about to start-"

"Be quiet. I did not ask for information. I was merely commenting on Professor Lupin's lack of organization." I glared at him. "He's the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had." A murmur of agreement went through the classroom. Snape scowled. "You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardly overtaxing you-I would expect first years to be able to deal with Red Caps and grindylows. Today we shall discuss-" He flipped through the book to the very last chapter. "-werewolves."

"But Professor, we're not supposed to do werewolves yet, we're due to start hinkypunks-"

"Miss Granger, I was under the impression that I am teaching this lesson, not you. And I am telling all of you to turn to page 394." He looked around the classroom. "_All_ of you!_ Now!_" We opened our books, muttering under our breath.

"Which of you can tell me how to distinguish the difference between the werewolf and a true wolf?" Everyone was silent, but Hermione's hand shot into the air. "Anyone?" Snape asked, ignoring Hermione. "Are you telling me that Professor Lupin hasn't even taught you the basic distinction between-"

"We told you," Parvati said suddenly, "We haven't got as far as werewolves yet, we're still on-"

"Silence! Well, well, well, I never thought I'd meet a third year class who couldn't even recognize a werewolf when they saw one. I shall make a point of informing the headmaster how behind you all are..."

"Please, sir, the werewolf differs from the true wolf in many small ways. The snout of the werewolf-"

"This is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger. Five points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all." Hermione put down her hand and stared at the floor, her eyes swimming with tears. We all glared at him, and Ron said loudly, "You asked a question, and she knows the answer? Why ask if you didn't want to be told?"

Snape turned towards Ron, and everyone held their breath. "Detention, Weasley. And if I ever hear you criticize the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed."

Silence reigned through the rest of the lesson. We sat and took notes on werewolves from the book, while Snape strode up and down the rows of desks, examining our work we'd done with Professor Lupin. "Very poorly explained...That is incorrect, the kappa is more commonly found in Mongolia...Professor Lupin gave this eight out of ten? I wouldn't have given it three..."

Just as the bell rang, Snape held us back. "You will each write an essay, to be handed in to me, on the ways you recognize and kill werewolves. I want two rolls of parchment on the subject, and I want them by Monday morning. It is time somebody took this class in hand. Weasley, stay behind, we need to arrange your detention."

Harry, Hermione and I left the class, and then began complaining about Snape. "Snape's never been like this with any of our other Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, even if he did want the job! Why's he got it in for Lupin? D'you think this is all because of Neville's boggart?" Hermione sighed. "I don't know. But I really hope Professor Lupin gets better soon."

Ron showed up five minutes later, fuming. "Do you know what that bastard is making me do?!"

Hermione stared at him. "Ron!" He ignored her and continued. "I've got to scrub out the bedpans in the hospital wing! _Without_ magic!" He took a deep breath, still scowling. "Why couldn't Black have hidden in Snape's office? He could've finished him off for us!"

* * *

The next morning, the morning of the first Quidditch match, Hermione, Ron and I headed down to the Quidditch Pitch in the freezing rain, the wind blowing our umbrellas out of our hands.

We cheered as the game began, but it was hard to hear anything over the sound of the rain and the wind.

It was about half an hour later, and both teams were struggling in the wind. A flash of lightning struck, and a time-out was called. Hermione shouted at us that she'd be right back, and returned a few minutes later, beaming. "What happened?"

"I put a Impervius Charm on Harry's glasses! Now he can see better!"

The teams had both risen back into the air, still struggling, but it seemed as though Harry was able to fly better in the storm due to Hermione's spell.

Suddenly, something strange began happening. I couldn't hear the other students cheering, not even Ron and Hermione, who sat right beside me. I felt as though ice was running through my veins. I looked down and my eyes widened. About a hundred dementors were gliding around the Pitch below the players. I opened my mouth, unable to hear my own screams as I watched Harry slide off his broom, falling through the air to the ground below.

* * *

"Lucky the ground was so soft."

"I thought he was dead for sure."

"But he didn't even break his glasses."

"That was the scariest thing I'd ever seen in my life."

I turned to face Harry's hospital bed, and shrieked, seeing he'd just woken up. "Harry!"

Fred looked over. "Harry! How are you doing?" We all gasped as he sat up way too quickly. "What happened?"

"You fell off. Must have been about fifty feet," Fred said quietly. Angelina's eyes were swimming with tears. "We thought you'd died." Hermione let out a sob, and I hugged her. "But the match. What happened? Are we doing a replay?" A dead silence answered him. "We didn't..._lose_?" George nodded glumly. "Diggory got the Snitch. Just after you fell. Didn't realize what'd happened. When he looked down and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square...even Wood admits it."

"Where is Oliver?"

"Still in the showers. We think he's trying to drown himself." Harry looked down, his face downcast. Fred grabbed his shoulder, shaking it. "C'mon, Harry, you've never missed the Snitch before."

"There had to be one time you didn't get it."

"It's not over yet. We lost by a hundred points, right? So if Hufflepuff loses to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin..." George shook his head at Fred's words. "Hufflepuff will have to lose by at least two hundred points."

"But if they beat Ravenclaw..."

"No way. Ravenclaw is too good. But if Slytherin loses to Hufflepuff..."

"It all depends on the points-a margin of a hundred either way-"

After about ten minutes, Madam Pomfrey showed up and kicked the Gryffindor team out, leaving only me, Hermione and Ron with Harry. "Dumbledore was really angry," Hermione said quietly. "I've never seen him like that before. He ran onto the field as you fell, waved his wand, and you slowed down. Then he waved his wand at the dementors. Shot some silvery stuff at them. They left the stadium right away. He was furious they'd come onto the grounds. We heard him..."

"Then he magicked you onto a stretcher, and walked up to school with you floating on it. Everybody though you had..." Ron's voice trailed off.

Harry looked around. "Did somebody get my Nimbus?" Ron, Hermione and I looked at each other. "Um-"

"What?"

"Well...when you fell off, it got blown away," Hermione said quietly.

"And?" Hermione bit her lip. "And it hit-it hit-oh, Harry-it hit the Whomping Willow."

"And?" Ron shifted awkwardly. "Well, you know the Whomping Willow. It-it doesn't like being hit."

"Professor Flitwick brought it back just before you came around." I reached down and picked up a bag, upended it, tipping what was left of Harry's Nimbus Two Thousand onto his lap.


	6. Chapter 6

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER SIX:**

* * *

Harry finally returned from the hospital wing on Monday, looking relieved to be back, but upset at the loss of the game at the same time. Malfoy seemed ecstatic at Gryffindor's loss, and had finally taken off his bandages. He celebrated by doing imitations of Harry falling from his broom. Malfoy spent much of the next Potions class doing imitations of dementors around the dungeon. I finally snapped and chucked a crocodile heart at him, hitting him right in the face, causing the Gryffindors to burst into hysterical laughter as it slid off his face. Despite the fact that Snape docked Gryffindor fifty points due to this, I felt incredibly satisfied after this.

* * *

After lunch, as we headed for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ron was grumbling under his breath. "If Snape's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again, I'm skiving off. Check who's in there, Hermione." Hermione peered around the corner into the classroom. "It's okay." Professor Lupin had returned. He looked as though he'd definitely been ill. His robes hung loosely on him and there were shadows beneath his eyes; but he smiled as we took our seats and burst into complaints about the last class. "It's not fair, he was only filling in, why should he give us homework?"

"We don't know anything about werewolves-"

"-two rolls of parchment!"

"Did you tell Professor Snape we haven't covered them yet?" Professor Lupin asked, frowning.

"Yes, but he said we were really behind-"

"-he wouldn't listen-"

_"-two rolls of parchment!"_

Professor Lupin smiled at our angry faces. "Don't worry. I'll speak to Professor Snape. You don't have to do the essay."

"Oh, no," Hermione whispered. "I've already finished it!"

Professor Lupin had brought a hinkypunk in a glass box, a frail, one-legged creature who appeared to be made of wisps of smoke. "Lures travelers into bogs. You notice the lantern dangling from his hand? Hops ahead-people follow the light-then-" We jumped as the hinkypunk made a squelching noise against the glass.

* * *

Harry told us later that Lupin had promised to help him with anti-dementor lessons. That and the fact that Ravenclaw had bowled Hufflepuff over in their Quidditch match at the end of November, Harry seemed to have definitely cheered up. It looked as though the Gryffindor Quidditch team wasn't out of the running for the Quidditch Cup after all, and Wood had once again become possessed with his manic energy, working the team harder than ever before.

* * *

Two weeks before the end of term, the sky changed to a beautiful white and the grounds were covered in glittering frost. Inside the castle, Christmas buzzed through the air. Professor Flitwick had decorated his classroom with shimmering lights that were real, fluttering fairies.

Everybody was talking excitedly about our plans for the holidays. Ron and Hermione were staying at Hogwarts with Harry; and though Ron stated that he couldn't stand two weeks with Percy, and Hermione claimed she needed to use the library, it was incredibly obvious that they were doing it to keep Harry company. I would have stayed too, but I couldn't stand the idea of not being with Dracula during the holidays, even if he didn't celebrate them.

To everybody's delight except Harry's, there was one last Hogsmeade trip on the weekend just before the holidays. "We can do all our Christmas shopping! Mum and Dad would love those Toothflossing Stringmints from Honeydukes!"

* * *

That Saturday morning, we said goodbye to Harry and headed down to Hogsmeade.

We were in Honeydukes, looking in the Unusual Tastes section. Hermione looked over at some blood-flavored lollipops. "Ugh, no, Harry won't want one of those, they're for vampires, I expect." Ron picked up some Cockroach Clusters. "How 'bout these?" Harry's voice came from behind us. "Definitely not." I let out a small yelp, and Ron nearly dropped the jar.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" Hermione whispered. "How-how did you-?"

"Wow!" Ron looked impressed. "You've learned how to Apparate!"

"'Course I haven't," Harry said. He lowered his voice and told us about the Marauder's Map. "How come Fred and George never gave it to me!? I'm their brother!" Hermione shook her head. "But Harry isn't going to keep it! He's going to turn it in to Professor McGonagall, aren't you, Harry?"

"No, I'm not!"

I stared at Hermione as though she'd gone insane. "Are you crazy? Hand in something that good?"

"If I hand it in, I'll have to say where I got it! Filch will know Fred and George nicked it!"

"But what about Sirius Black? He could be using one of the passages on that map to get into the castle! The teachers have got to know!"

"He can't be getting in through a passage," Harry said stubbornly. "Fred and George think Filch already know about four of them. And the other three-one of them's caved in, so nobody can get through it. One of them's got the Whomping Willow planted over the entrance, so you'd have a job getting out of it. And the one I just came through-well-it's really hard to see the entrance down in the cellar, so unless he knew it was there..."

Ron cleared his throat and pointed at the sign on the inside of the sweetshop door.

**BY ORDER OF **

**THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC**

_Customers are reminded that until further notice, dementors will be patrolling the streets of Hogsmeade every night after sundown. This measure has been put in place for the safety of Hogsmeade residents and will be lifted upon the recapture of Sirius Black. It is therefore advisable that you complete your shopping well before sundown._

_Merry Christmas!_

"See?" Ron said quietly. "I'd like to see Black try to break into Honeydukes with dementors swarming all over the place. Anyway, Hermione, the Honeydukes owners would hear a break-in, wouldn't they? I mean, they live over the shop!"

"Yes-but-Look, Harry still shouldn't be coming into Hogsmeade. He hasn't got a signed form! If anybody finds out, he'll be in real trouble! And it's not nightfall yet-what if Sirius Black turns up today? Now?"

"He'd have a job spotting Harry in this," I nodded at the heavy, swirling snow outside. "Come on, Hermione, it's Christmas. Harry deserves a break." Hermione bit her lip.

"Are you going to report me?"

"Of course not-but honestly, Harry-"

"Seen the Fizzing Whizbees, Harry?" Ron said, pulling Harry aside. "And the Jelly Slugs? And the Acid Pops? Fred gave me one of those when I was seven-it burnt a hole right through my tongue. I remember Mum walloping him with her broomstick." Ron stared into the Acid Pop box. "Reckon Fred would take a box of Cockroach Cluster if I told him they were peanuts?"

When we'd paid for all our sweets, the four of us left Honeydukes, looking around the snow. We pointed out various shops, yelling what they were to Harry over the wind. "That's the post office-"

"Zonko's is up there-"

"We could go up to the Shrieking Shack-"

"Tell you what," Ron said, shivering. "Let's go for a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks." Harry nodded, and we entered the crowded inn. "There's Madam Rosmerta," Ron said, blushing.

"I'll get the drinks, shall I?" Harry, Hermione and I made our way to the back of the room, where there was a vacant table between the window and a large Christmas tree standing next to the fireplace. Ron came back five minutes later, carrying a tray of four tankards of butterbeer. "Merry Christmas!" Ron said, raising his tankard. We drank our butterbeer down, the warm liquid spreading through our body.

The bell over the door jangled, and a cold breeze came through the door. Harry looked over his tankard and began choking. McGonagall and Flitwick stood in the entrance, followed by Hagrid and Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Ron, Hermione and I quickly shoved Harry under the table.

Hermione whispered, _"Mobiliarbus!"_ The Christmas tree near our table rose a few inches and placed itself in front of our table, hiding us from sight. Through the branches, I saw four sets of table legs pull backwards, and four people sit down. Another pair of feet approached, and a woman's voice spoke.

"A small gillywater-"

"Mine," said Professor McGonagall's voice.

"Four pints of mulled mead-"

"Ta, Rosmerta," said Hagrid.

"A cherry syrup and soda with ice and umbrella-"

"Mmm!" came Professor's Flitwick's voice, smacking his lips.

"So you'll be the red currant rum, Minister."

"Thank you, Rosmerta, my dear. Lovely to see you again, I must say. Have one yourself, won't you? Come and join us..."

"Why, thank you very much, Minister." Her footsteps receded, and came back a few minutes later. "So what brings you to this neck of the woods, Minister?"

"What else, m'dear, but Sirius Black? I daresay you heard what happened up at the school on Halloween?"

"I did hear a rumor."

"Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid?" McGonagall said, sounding exasperated.

"Do you think that Black's still in the area, Minister?" Madam Rosmerta asked. "I'm sure of it."

"Do you know that the dementors have searched my place twice? Scared all my customers away-it's very bad for business, Minister."

"Rosmerta, my dear, I don't like it any more than you do. Necessary precaution...unfortunate, but there you are...I've just met some of them. They're furious that Dumbledore's not letting them inside the grounds."

"I should think not," McGonagall said tersely. "How on earth could we teach with those horrors floating around?"

"Hear, hear!"

"All the same, they are here to protect you from something far worse. We all know what Black's capable of..."

"You know, I still have trouble believing it. Of all the people to go over to the Dark Side, Sirius Black was the last I'd have thought...I remember him when he was a boy at Hogwarts. If you'd told me then what he was going to become, I'd have said you'd had too much mead."

"You don't know the half of it, Rosmerta. The worst he did isn't widely known."

"The worst? Worse than murdering all those poor people, you mean?"

"I certainly do," Fudge's voice said.

"I can't believe that. What could possibly be worse?"

"You say you remember him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta," said Professor McGonagall. "Do you remember who his best friend was?" Madam Rosmerta laughed softly. "Naturally. Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here-oh, they used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!"

I heard Harry drop his tankard with a clunk, and Ron kicked him.

"Precisely. Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang. Both very bright, of course-exceptionally bright, in fact-but we've never had such a pair of troublemakers-"

"I dunno," Hagrid chuckled. "Fred and George Weasley could give 'em a run fer their money." Flitwick spoke up. "You would have thought Black and Potter were brothers! Inseparable!"

"Of course they were. Potter trusted Black above all his other friends. Nothing changed when they left this school. Black was best man when James married Lily. Then they named him godfather to Harry. Harry has no idea, of course. You can imagine how the idea would torture him."

"Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?" Madam Rosmerta whispered. "Worse even than that, my dear. Not many people know that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore, who was of course, working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off, and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Well, of course, You-Know-Who wasn't an easy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm."

"How does that work?" Madam Rosmerta asked, and Flitwick answered. "An immensely complex spell involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find-unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret-Keeper refused to speak, You-Know-Who could search the village where James and Lily were staying for years and never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed up against their sitting-room window!"

"So Black was the Potters' Secret-Keeper?"

"Naturally. James Potter told Dumbledore that Black would rather die than tell where they were, that Black was planning to go into hiding himself...and yet Dumbledore remained worried. I remember him offering to be the Potters' Secret-Keeper himself."

"He suspected Black?"

"He was sure that somebody close to the Potters had been keeping You-Know-Who informed of their movements. Indeed, he had suspected for some time that someone on our side had turned traitor and was passing a lot of information to You-Know-Who."

"But James Potter insisted on using Black?"

"He did. And then, barely a week after the Fidelius Charm had been performed-"

"Black betrayed them?"

"He did indeed. Black was tired of his double-agent role, he was ready to declare his support openly for You-Know-Who, and he seems to have planned this for the moment of the Potters' death. But as we all know, You-Know-Who met his downfall in little Harry Potter. Powers gone, horribly weakened, he fled. And this left Black in a very bad situation indeed. His master had fallen at the very moment when Black had shown his true colors as a traitor. He had no choice but to run for it."

"Filthy, stinkin' turncoat!" Hagrid said loudly.

"Hagrid, shh!" McGonagall hissed.

"I met him! I musta bin the last ter see him before he killed all them people! It was me what rescued Harry from Lily an' James's after they was killed! Jus' got him outta the ruins, poor little thing, with a great slash across his forehead, an' his parents dead...an' Sirius Black turns up, on that flyin' motorbike he used ter ride. Never occurred ter me what he was doin' there. I didn' know he'd bin Lily an' James's Secret-Keeper. Thought he'd jus' heard the news o' You-Know-Who's attack an' come ter see what he could do. White an' shakin', he was. An' yeh know what I did? I COMFORTED THE MURDERIN' TRAITOR!"

"Hagrid, _please!_ Keep your voice down!"

"How was I ter know he wasn' upset abou' Lily an' James? It was You-Know-Who he cared abou'! An' then he says, 'Give Harry ter me, Hagrid, I'm his godfather, I'll look after him'-Ha! But I'd had me orders from Dumbledore, an' I told Black no, Dumbledore said Harry was ter go ter his aunt an' uncle's. Black argued, but in the end, he gave in. Told me ter take his motorbike ter get Harry there. 'I won't need it anymore', he says. I shoulda known there was somethin' fishy goin' on then. He loved that motorbike, what was he givin' it ter me for? Why wouldn' he need it anymore? Fact was, it was far too easy ter trace. Dumbledore knew he'd been the Potters' Secret-Keeper. Black knew he was goin' ter have ter run fer it that night, knew it was a matter o' hours before the Ministry was after him. _But what if I'd given Harry to him, eh?_ I bet he would've pitched him off the bike halfway out ter sea. His bes' friend's son! But when a wizard goes over ter the Dark Side, there's nothin' an' no one that matters to 'em anymore."

A long silence reigned, and then Madam Rosmerta spoke. "But he didn't manage to disappear, did he? The Ministry of Magic caught up with him the next day!"

"Ah, if only we had. It was not we who found him. It was little Peter Pettigrew-another of the Potters' friends. Maddened by grief, no doubt, and knowing that Black had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper, went after Black himself."

"Pettigrew-that little fat boy who was always tagging along after them at Hogwarts?"

"Hero-worshipped Black and Potter. Never quite in their league, talent-wise. I was often rather sharp with him. You can imagine how I-how I regret that now..."

"There now, Minerva. Pettigrew died a hero's death. Eyewitnesses-Muggles, of course, we wiped their memories later-told us how Pettigrew cornered Black. They say he was sobbing, 'Lily and James, Sirius! How could you!?' And then he went for his wand. Well, of course Black was quicker. Blew Pettigrew to smithereens."

Professor McGonagall blew her nose. "Stupid boy-foolish boy-he was always hopeless at dueling-should've left it to the Ministry-"

"I tell yeh, if I'd got ter Black before little Pettigrew did, I would've ripped him limb from limb."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Hagrid. Nobody but trained Hit Wizards from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad would've stood a chance against Black once he was cornered. I was Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Catastrophes at the time, and I was one of the first on scene after Black murdered all those people. I will never forget it. A crater in the middle of the street, so deep it cracked the sewer below. Bodies everywhere. Muggles screaming. And Black standing there, laughing, with what was left of Pettigrew in front of him...a heap of bloodstained robes and a few fragments-"

Five noses sounded as though they were being blown, then Fudge continued. "Well, there you have it, Rosmerta. Black was taken away by twenty members of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad and Pettigrew received the Order of Merlin, First Class, which I think was some comfort to his poor mother. Black's been in Azkaban ever since."

Madam Rosmerta sighed. "Is it true he's mad, Minister?"

"I wish I could say that he was. I certainly believe his master's defeat unhinged him for a while. The murder of Pettigrew and all those Muggles was the act of a cornered and unhinged man...cruel...pointless. Yet I met Black on my last visit to Azkaban. You know, most of the prisoners in there sit there muttering to themselves in the dark. There's no sense in them, but I was shocked at how normal Black seemed. It was unnerving. You would've thought he was merely bored-asked if I had finished with my paper. Said he missed doing the crossword. I was astounded at how little the dementors had an effect on him. He was one of the most heavily guarded in the place, you know."

"But what do you think he's broken out to do? Good gracious, Minister, you don't think he's planning to rejoin You-Know-Who, do you?"

"I believe that is his-er-eventual plan. But we hope to catch Black long before that. I must say, You-Know-Who alone and friendless is on thing..but give him back his most devoted servant, and I shudder to think how quickly he'll rise again."

"You know, Cornelius, if you're dining with the headmaster, we'd better head back up to the castle." The pairs of feet stood up and the door opened as all but Madam Rosmerta left. "Harry?" We looked under the table at a stunned Harry.


	7. Chapter 7

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER SEVEN:**

* * *

We watched Harry through dinner, not able to talk about what we'd heard because Percy was sitting a few feet anyway. When we went up to the common room, Fred and George had set off some Dungbombs celebrating the end of term. Harry made his way up to his dormitory, obviously wanting to be alone. Ron looked at me and Hermione, then followed him up a few minutes later. He came back, shaking his head. "He's asleep." I bit my lip, looking up at the ceiling above us.

* * *

I stood at the entrance to Hogwarts, saying goodbye to the others as I made my way down to the train station. When I arrived at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, I looked around, and spotted Renny right away. I ran over to him, pushing my cart ahead of me, grinning. "Renny!"

"Hello, young one. I trust you had a good time at Hogwarts this term?" I sighed. "Sort of. The Hogsmeade visits are good, but...the dementors are creeping everybody out."

"Dementors? At Hogwarts?"

"Yeah." I explained him what had happened at the Quidditch match, and how Harry had fallen off of his broom. Renny listened as I took off my crucifix, putting it in my pocket as we stepped outside, and then finally spoke in a quiet voice. "I believe the Master will want to hear about this..."

"No, Renny. You can't tell him!"

"If those dementors are putting students, particularly yourself, in danger, the Master will want to know about it."

* * *

We appeared outside the gates of Dracula's castle, where a carriage waited to take us up to the castle. As soon as I stepped into the castle, Renny and I headed for Dracula's study. He was poring over a large book, but looked up as soon as the door opened. He shut the book and rose, not taking his eyes off me. "Gabrielle. Renfield, leave us."

As soon as Renny shut the door behind him, Dracula strode over to me in two steps, embracing me. I moaned as he lightly scraped my neck with his teeth, going weak in his arms. I whimpered when he pulled away, and I heard him chuckle. "As much as I would prefer this to continue, I suggest that we go have dinner. After all, you have had a long journey, and you must certainly be hungry."

* * *

Two hours later, I sat next to Dracula on his futon, staring into the fire, my head on his shoulder as he ran his fingers through my hair. "You know, Count, if someone had told me four years ago that you could even feel any sort of emotion, I would have laughed at them." I felt his fingers stop combing my hair. "But now...well, I guess people just judge vampires too quickly." I looked up at him as he continued running his fingers through my hair. "What do you think?"

"Well, we may be misjudged, but not entirely. After all, we vampires are bloodthirsty killers." I nodded, then decided to change the subject. "Count, Renny may not have told you yet, but there are dementors guarding Hogwarts." Dracula stopped running his fingers through my hair once again, and looked down at me. "What?"

"Dementors are guarding the entrances to Hogwarts because of Sirius Black escaping from Azkaban." His eyes narrowed to slits. He got up, staring into the fire. "And the Ministry approved this?"

"They came up with the idea in the first place. Dumbledore wasn't too happy about it, but he agreed." Dracula didn't say anything until I mentioned what had happened at the Quidditch match. "Surely the Ministry must have better ways to capture Black."

"None that they could think of."

"I am going to write a formal letter of complaint to the Minister himself."

"Count, I'm not sure that's such a good idea."

"I will not allow those things to harm you, Gabrielle." I sighed, propping myself up on my elbow. "Look, all I'm saying is that the Ministry of Magic isn't likely to listen to the complaints of a vampire, no matter how high up his social status is among the vampire community." Dracula nodded reluctantly. "I understand your meaning, Gabrielle." He looked out the window. "You had best be getting to bed. It is getting late, and I must go out to hunt."

* * *

The next night, the Count showed me the extra precautionary measures he'd had placed around the castle. No vampire would be able to enter without permission, and they could only with that permission during that time, then had to be invited back to the castle in order to enter again. No one would be able enter without permission from a resident of the castle; in other words, Dracula, me, or Renny.

* * *

A few days later, Christmas rolled around, and even though we didn't celebrate, Dracula and I spent almost all our time in my garden room, where Dracula would read as I swam around. I didn't get any presents from the other three, due to the fact that they had no idea where I lived, and I wasn't about to tell them.

However, Dracula led me into his study, and handed me a sterling silver hand mirror. "What's this for?"

"You will be able to use it to communicate with me. I have a portrait of you on my desk to talk to you." I stared up at him, then down at the mirror. "But-how-?"

"I requested the assistance of Headmaster Dumbledore, and he agreed to help me." I smiled. "Thank you, Count."

* * *

The weeks leading up to my return to Hogwarts sped by far too quickly, and I became depressed at the thought of leaving Dracula behind. The only thing that cheered me up was that we'd be able to communicate while I was at school.

* * *

When I returned to Hogwarts, my mirror hidden safely in my bag, I entered the common room to see Ron and Harry looking thoroughly upset about something. "Hey." They muttered a quiet 'Hey', and I frowned. "What's wrong?" They told me about the letter to Hagrid from the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. "That's ridiculous!"

Harry sighed, then changed the subject. "Oh, yeah. You got some presents, but we didn't know where to send them, so we held onto them for you."

"Thanks." I took a lumpy package from Ron, and opened it to see another sweater made by his mother. Next was a box of Sugar Quills from Hermione; then Hagrid's present, which was some of his infamous treacle toffee; a box of Pepper Imps from Harry; and Ron had got me a box of wizard cards.

I looked around. "Wait. Where's Hermione?" The two boys scowled. "What's wrong?" Harry told me about how he'd received a Firebolt for Christmas, and how McGonagall had confiscated it after Hermione told her about it. "She thought Sirius Black sent it."

* * *

Classes started the next day, and I didn't really feel like spending two whole hours on the freezing grounds, but Hagrid had provided our class with salamanders, and we spent the entire lesson collecting dry wood and leaves in order to keep the large fire going while the salamanders ran up and down the white-hot logs.

Professor Trelawney had started us on palmistry, and it was starting to get annoying about how she kept commenting that Harry had the shortest life line she'd ever seen.

Finally, Defense Against the Dark Arts arrived, and Harry stayed in the classroom shortly class to talk to Professor Lupin about his anti-dementor lessons. "Still looks ill, doesn't he?" Ron said as we made our way down to dinner. "What d'you think's wrong with him?"

We heard Hermione sighed in exasperation behind us. "And what are you tutting at us for?"

"Nothing."

"Yes, you were," Ron said. "I said that I wonder what's wrong with Lupin, and you-"

"Well, isn't it obvious?"

"If you don't want to tell us, then don't."

"Fine." Hermione strode off, and Ron scowled. "She doesn't know. She's just trying to make us talk to her again."

* * *

Ravenclaw played Quidditch against Slytherin the first week after the start of term. Slytherin won, but very narrowly. This was good news for the Gryffindor team, who would take second place if they beat Ravenclaw as well. Wood increased the practices to five a week. This meant, that what with Harry's anti-dementor lessons, he had only one night a week to do homework.

Hermione seemed to be much worse off, though. Her workload finally seemed to be affecting her. "How's she doing it?" Ron muttered to me and Harry one night as we finished up our essays on Undetectable Poisons for Potions class. "Doing what?"

"Getting to all her classes! I heard her talking to Professor Vector, that Arithmancy witch, this morning. They were going on about yesterday's lesson, but Hermione can't have been there, she was in Care of Magical Creatures with us! And Ernie MacMillan told me she's never missed a Muggle Studies class, but half of them are the same time as Divination, and she's never missed one of those either!"

Just then, Oliver Wood, the Quidditch Captain, showed up. "Bad news, Harry. I've just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She-er-got a bit _shirty_ with me. Said I've got my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about the Quidditch Cup than you staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off, so long as you caught the Snitch first. Honestly, the way she was yelling at me...you'd think I'd said something terrible...Then I asked her how much longer she was going to keep it..." He imitated Professor McGonagall's voice. "'As long as necessary, Wood'...I reckon it's time you ordered a new broom, Harry. There's an order form at the back of _Which Broomstick_...you could order a Nimbus Two Thousand and One, like Malfoy's got."

"I'm not getting anything Malfoy thinks is good."

* * *

That night, I crept up to my dormitory, and took out my mirror. It pulsated two times, then Dracula's face appeared. "Ah, Gabrielle. To what do I owe the honor of this call?" I giggled. "Not much, Count. I just wanted to say hi." I told him about Harry receiving a Firebolt, which was immediately confiscated. "Hmmm...Well, I believe that Miss Granger may have had the right idea. After all, since there was no note, there is no definite way to prove who sent Mr. Potter the Firebolt."

"That's not all, Count."

"Oh?"

"Just after I got back here, I found out that the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures is planning on putting Buckbeak on trial! And from what the others have told me, they haven't found anything yet that may help Buckbeak!"

"I see. Well, I will review my books on the subject, and see if I am able to find anything that may help." I smiled at him. "Thanks, Count." Just then, I heard footsteps approaching the door. "I have to go. I'll talk to you again soon." He nodded, his face fading from the mirror, and I quickly stuffed it back into my bag. Hermione entered, glancing around. "Evangeline, are you okay?"

"Fine. Why do you ask?"

"I thought I heard voices."

"Nope." I felt her watching me as I fell asleep.

* * *

About a week later, Harry ran over to me and Ron, clutching his Firebolt. Ron grinned. "She let you have it back? Excellent! Listen, can I still have a go on it? Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure. You know what, we should make up with Hermione. She was only trying to help." Ron nodded. "Yeah. She's in the common room-working, for a change." We turned the corridor to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, and saw Neville standing outside Sir Cadogan's portrait, who wouldn't let him in. "I wrote them down! But I must have dropped them somewhere!"

"A likely tale!" Sir Cadogan spotted us. "Good evening, my fine young yeomen and fair lady! Come clap this loon in irons! He is trying to force entry to the chamber within!"

"Oh, shut up," I said as we came up beside Neville. "I've lost the passwords! I made him tell me what passwords he was going to use this week, because he changing them, and now I don't know what I've done with them!"

"Oddsbodikins," Harry said to Sir Cadogan, who reluctantly let us in. A ripple of excitement spread through the common room, and Harry was surrounded by a chattering crowd.

"Where'd you get it, Harry?"

"Will you let me have a go?"

"Have you ridden it yet, Harry?"

"Ravenclaw won't have chance, they're all on Cleansweep Sevens!"

"Can I just _hold_ it, Harry?"

Ten minutes later, after the Firebolt had been passed around the common and admired by practically everybody, I spotted Hermione bent over her work, avoiding our eyes. I nudged Harry and Ron, nodding over in her direction. We approached her, and she looked up. "I got it back."

"See, Hermione?" Ron said. "There wasn't anything wrong with it!"

"Well...there might have been! I mean, at least, now you know it's safe!"

"Yeah, I suppose so. I'd better put it upstairs."

"I'll do it!" Ron said, grinning. "I've got to give Scabbers his rat tonic." Ron took the Firebolt and carried it up the stairs. Harry and I turned to Hermione. "Can we sit down?"

"I guess so," Hermione said, moving large stacks of parchment off of two chairs. I glanced around at the full table, at the long Arithmancy essay, the even longer Muggle Studies essay, and the rune translation she was working on. I stared at her in disbelief. "How on earth are you getting through all of this?"

"You know-working hard-" Looking closer, I could see that she looked almost as tired as Professor Lupin. "Why don't you drop a couple subjects?"

"I couldn't do that!"

"Arithmancy looks awful," Harry stated, looking at the Arithmancy essay. "Oh, no, it's wonderful! I love it, it's-"

Just then, a loud yell came from the boys' dormitories upstairs. Ron came running down the stairs, dragging a bedsheet behind him. "LOOK!" He yelled, shaking the bedsheet in Hermione's face. "LOOK!"

"Ron, what-?"

"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!" We examined the bedsheet, and there was something on it that looked like-"BLOOD! HE'S GONE! AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR!?" Hermione shook her head, looking frightened. Ron threw something onto Hermione's rune translation, and we looked at it. Half a dozen ginger cat hairs lay on top of the parchment.


	8. Chapter 8

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER EIGHT:**

* * *

It looked as though Ron and Hermione would never be able to be friends again. Each of them was so angry with the other that I couldn't think as to how they would ever be able to make up. Ron was furious that Hermione hadn't ever taken Crookshanks's attempts at eating Scabbers seriously, hadn't bothered to keep a close watch on him, and was still acting as though Crookshanks was innocent by saying that Ron should check under all the boys' beds. Hermione, on the other hand, said fiercely that Ron didn't have a single bit of proof that Crookshanks had killed Scabbers, that the cat hairs may have been there since Christmas, and that Ron had been prejudiced against Crookshanks ever since he had landed on Ron's head in the Magical Menagerie.

When Harry and I tried to tell Hermione that all the evidence showed that Crookshanks had killed Scabbers, she got angry with us too. "Side with Ron, I knew you would! First the Firebolt, now Scabbers, everything's my fault, isn't it! Just leave me alone, I've got work to do!"

When we weren't trying to make Hermione see reason, we were trying to cheer Ron up.

"Come on, Ron, you were always saying how boring Scabbers was," Fred said to him one day. "And he's been off-color for ages, he was wasting away. It was probably better for him to snuff it quickly-one swallow-he probably didn't feel a thing."

"Fred!" Ginny glared at him.

"All he did was eat and sleep, Ron, you said it yourself," George said.

"He bit Goyle for us once!"

"His finest hour," Fred said, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Let the scar on Goyle's finger standing as a lasting tribute to his memory. Oh, come on, Ron, get yourself down to Hogsmeade and buy a new rat, what's the point in moaning?"

Finally, Harry and I talked Ron into coming down to the Quidditch Pitch for Gryffindor's final practice before the match against Ravenclaw so that he could fly the Firebolt around the Pitch after practice. That seemed to take his mind off of Scabbers ("Great! Can I try and shoot a few goals on it?") so we headed down to the Quidditch Pitch together.

Madam Hooch, who was still overseeing Gryffindor practices, was very impressed by the Firebolt. "Look at the balance on it! If the Nimbus series has a fault, it's a slight list to the tail end-you often find they develop a drag after a few years. They've updated the handles too, a bit slimmer than the Cleansweeps, reminds me of the old Silver Arrows-a pity they've stopped making them. I learned to fly on one, and a very fine old broom it was, too-"

Finally, Wood cut her off. "Um-Madam Hooch, can Harry have his broom back? We need to practice."

"Oh-right-here you are, then, Potter. I'll sit over here with Weasley and Lestrade." Ron and I headed for the stands with Madam Hooch, and I watched in amazement as Harry sped around on the Firebolt, dodging Bludgers easily, and catching the Snitch within ten seconds. He released the Snitch again, and caught it again.

Apparently, the rest of the team seemed uplifted by Harry's Firebolt among them, and were performing better than ever. When they landed, Wood was grinning from ear to ear as Ron and I came over to them. "I can't see what's going to stop us tomorrow! Not unless-Harry, you've sorted out your dementor problem, right?"

"Yeah."

"Don't worry, Oliver. The dementors won't turn up again. Dumbledore would go ballistic."

"Well, let's hope not. Anyway, good work, everyone. Let's get back to the tower...turn in early-"

"I'm staying for a bit. Ron wants to have a go on the Firebolt." Ron grinned, taking the Firebolt from Harry. He took off into the air, zooming around the Quidditch Pitch until Madam Hooch woke up and scolded us for not waking her up, then told us to go back to the castle.

As we made our way back up to the castle in the fading light, Harry stopped suddenly, and I bumped into him. "What's wrong?" He pointed at something, and Ron pulled out his wand. _"Lumos!"_ The area surrounding us lit up, and we spotted Crookshanks. "Get out of here!" Ron picked up a stone, but before he could throw it, Crookshanks turned and walked off.

Ron threw the stone angrily to the ground. "See? She's still letting him wander around wherever he wants-probably washing down Scabbers with a couple of birds now-" I noticed that Ron continued fuming all the way up to the castle, but Harry remained silent.

* * *

The next morning, I laughed when I saw Harry walk down to breakfast holding his Firebolt, with the other boys in his dorm surrounding him. As he sat down, Ron laughed at Malfoy's expression. "Did you see his face? He can't believe it! This is great!"

Wood grinned. "Put it here, Harry." Wood laid the broom in the middle of the table, turning it so that the name faced upward. People from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were now coming over to look. Cedric Diggory congratulated Harry on finding such a good replacement broom, and Percy's Ravenclaw girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater, asked to hold the Firebolt.

"Now, now, Penny, no sabotage!" Percy looked over at us. "Penelope and I have a bet, you see. Ten Galleons on the outcome of the match." Penelope put the Firebolt down and went back to her table. "Harry, make sure you win," Percy whispered. "I haven't got ten Galleons. Coming, Penelope!"

"Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?" Malfoy's voice spoke from behind us. "Yeah, I reckon so."

"Got plenty of special features, hasn't it? Shame it doesn't come with a parachute-in case you come too close to a dementor." Harry smirked up at him. "Pity you can't attach an extra arm to yours, Malfoy. Then it could catch the Snitch for you." The Gryffindor team burst into laughter, and I snorted into my goblet. Malfoy's eyes narrowed, and he stomped off.

* * *

At eleven o'clock, Ron and I headed down to the Quidditch Pitch to watch Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor team play against Ravenclaw. I looked through my binoculars to see Wood and the Ravenclaw captain shaking hands, and then both teams mounted their brooms. Madam Hooch's whistle sounded, and they flew into the air.

I heard Lee Jordan start the commentary, and couldn't help but laugh at what he was saying. "They're off, and the big excitement this match is the Firebolt that Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to _Which Broomstick_, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship-"

"Jordan, could you please tell us what's going on in the match?"

"Right you are, Professor-just giving a bit of background information-the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake, and-"

_"Jordan..."_

"Okay, okay-Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor heading for the goal..." Harry passed Katie in the opposite direction with Cho Chang following him, constantly trying to cut him off. He pushed the Firebolt even further forward as they cleared the Ravenclaw goalposts, and Cho lost a few feet. Katie scored the first goal of the match, and us Gryffindors burst into cheers.

Harry dived and Cho sped after him. A Bludger, hit by a Ravenclaw Beater, went speeding at Harry. He flew out of the way, and I inhaled sharply as it narrowly missed his left ear. George knocked a Bludger at the Ravenclaw Beater, who had to roll over in midair to dodge it.

"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn-Chang's Comet's just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision-balance is really noticeable in these long-"

"JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS?! GET ON WITH IT!"

Ravenclaw had now scored three goals, putting Gryffindor fifty points ahead. If Cho got the Snitch first, Gryffindor would lose. Harry suddenly accelerated, and Cho suddenly blocked him. I saw Wood yell something at Harry as he swerved to avoid her. He turned the Firebolt upward and was twenty feet above the game in seconds, and Cho was tailing him. He dived again, and Cho followed. He pulled out of the dive quickly, and rose once more.

Harry accelerated, and so did Cho beneath him. Suddenly, she let out a scream, pointing down at the ground. Three dementors stood on the ground, looking up at Harry. Harry pulled out his wand, and I saw his mouth form two words. Some huge silvery-white thing came bursting out of his wand, and sped right at the dementors. Two seconds later, his hands caught the Snitch.

Madam Hooch's whistle sounded, and the Gryffindor team landed, all of them hugging Harry. Ron and I led the stampede of cheering Gryffindors towards Harry. Ron, grinning from ear to ear, grabbed Harry arm, yanking it into the air. "Yes! Yes!"

"Well done, Harry!" Percy yelled over the cheer of the Gryffindors. "Ten Galleons to me! Must find Penelope, excuse me-"

I smiled at him. "That was awesome, Harry!"

"Good for you, Harry!"

"Ruddy brilliant!" Hagrid yelled over the heads of the Gryffindors.

"That was quite some Patronus," I heard Professor Lupin say to Harry. Harry nodded, grinning. "The dementors didn't affect me at all! I didn't feel a thing!"

"That would because they-um-weren't dementors. Come and see-" He led Harry over to the edge of the field. "You gave Mr. Malfoy quite a fright." I stared as I saw Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and the Slytherin Quidditch Captain, fighting to remove themselves from black hooded robes. It seemed as though Malfoy'd been standing on Goyle's shoulders. McGonagall stood over them, fury clearly written on her face.

"An unworthy trick! A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fifty points from Slytherin! I will be talking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Here he comes now!"

Ron, who'd made his way over to us, burst into hysterical laughter when he saw Malfoy trying to get out of the black robe, with Goyle's head still inside it. "Come on, Harry!" George said, coming over. "Party! Gryffindor common room, now!"

* * *

The party went on the rest of the day and all through the night. Fred and George left for a few hours and came back with loads of sweets. "How'd you do that?" Angelina asked as they passed out the sweets. "With a little help from Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," Fred muttered to me, Harry, and Ron.

Only Hermione didn't seem to want to enjoy the party. Hermione sat in a corner, poring over a heavy book. Harry and I walked over to her. "Did you even come to the match?" Harry asked.

"Of course I did. And I'm glad we won, and I think you did great, but I need to finish this by Monday."

I grabbed her hand, trying to pull her out of her chair. "Come on, Hermione, have some food." Just then, Ron said in a loud voice, "If Scabbers hadn't be eaten, he could've had some of these Fudge Flies. He used to love them." Hermione slammed the book shut, and ran upstairs, crying.

"Can't you give her a break?" I asked him quietly. "No. If she just acted like she was sorry-but she'll never admit she's wrong. She's still acting like Scabbers went on vacation or something."

The party ended when McGonagall showed up at one in the morning, insisting we all went to bed. I parted company with Ron and Harry at the foot of the stairs, and made my way up to the girls' dormitory. Hermione lay on her bed, turned away from me. "Hermione?" She didn't answer, but I knew she was faking sleep.

* * *

Two hours later, I heard someone screaming loudly. Getting out of bed, I saw Hermione sitting up, looking startled. "What's going on?" I shrugged, and opened the door to our dorm, and we headed down to the common room. Fred grinned. "Excellent, are we carrying on?" Percy hurried into the common room, pinning his Head Boy badge on. "Everyone back upstairs!"

"Percy-I saw Sirius Black!" I turned to stare at Ron. "What?!"

"In our dormitory! Woke me up! With a knife!"

Everyone fell silent.

"N-Nonsense! You were having a nightmare-had too much to eat-"

"I'm telling you-"

"Now, really, enough's enough!" McGonagall had reappeared, looking rather grumpy as she re-entered the common room. "I am delighted that Gryffindor won the Quidditch match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected more from you!"

"I didn't permit this, Professor! I was just telling them all to get back to bed! My brother Ron had a nightmare-"

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE! PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!" Professor McGonagall stared at him. "Don't be ridiculous, Weasley. How could he have possibly gotten through the portrait hole?"

"Ask him!" Ron yelled, pointing at Sir Cadogan's portrait. "Ask him if he saw anything!" Professor McGonagall pushed the portrait open partway and stepped outside. "Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"

"Certainly, fair lady!"

"You-you did? But-but what about the password?"

"He had them! Had the whole week's. Read them off of a little piece of paper!" Professor McGonagall came back through the portrait hole, her face pale. "Which person...which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?" There was a small squeak from behind me, and Neville raised a shaking hand.


	9. Chapter 9

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER NINE:**

* * *

None of us slept that night. The whole castle had been searched again, and we all stayed awake, waiting to hear news. McGonagall returned at sunup, telling us that Black had escaped again.

The next day, I saw signs of security everywhere I went. Flitwick was teaching the front doors to recognize a picture of Sirius Black. Filch was going up and down the corridors, boarding up everything from cracks in walls to mouse holes.

Sir Cadogan had been fired, and his portrait had been taken back to its place on the seventh floor. The Fat Lady was back, but was extremely nervous. She'd only come back on the condition that she be given extra protection. A group of security trolls had been hired to guard her. They walked up and down the corridor, conversing in grunts and comparing the size of their clubs.

The statue of the one-eyed witch, however, remained unguarded. "Do you think we should tell someone about it?" Harry asked me and Ron. "We would know if was coming in through Honeydukes. We would have heard if someone had broken into the shop."

Ron had gotten instant attention from the rest of the school overnight. Although he seemed like he was rattled by the event, he described it in great detail to anybody who would listen. "...I was asleep, and I heard this ripping noise, and I thought it was in my dream, you know? But then there was this draft...I rolled over...and I saw him standing over me...like a skeleton, with loads of filthy hair...holding this great long knife, must have been about twelve inches...and we looked at each other, and I yelled, and he _scampered_." Ron looked over at me and Harry. "Why, though? Why did he run?"

"Well...he must have realized that he would've had a tough time getting back out of the castle since you'd yelled and woken people up," I said, shrugging. "He would've had to kill the whole House to get back through the portrait hole, and then he would've had to deal with the teachers..."

Professor McGonagall was furious with Neville. She had banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits, given him detention, and forbidden all of us to give him the password to Gryffindor Tower. Neville had to stand outside the common room every night, waiting for somebody to let him in.

Not one of these punishments, however, came close to what he received from his grandmother two days after Black's break-in. She had sent him a Howler. "Run for it, Neville." Neville grabbed the red envelope, and ran out into the hall. It went off in the Entrance Hall, and we could hear his grandmother's voice shrieking about how he'd humiliated the entire family.

Hedwig suddenly nipped Harry on the beak to get his attention. "Ouch! Oh, thanks, Hedwig." He opened the letter, reading it aloud as Hedwig nibbled some of Neville's cereal.

_"Dear Harry, Ron, and Evangeline,_

_How about having tea with me this afternoon 'round six?_

_I'll come and collect you from the castle. _

_WAIT FOR ME IN THE ENTRANCE HALL;_

_YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED OUT ON YOUR OWN._

_Cheers,_

_Hagrid."_

Ron grinned. "He probably wants to hear all about Black!"

* * *

At six o'clock, we headed down to the Entrance Hall, where Hagrid was waiting for us. "All right, Hagrid? Suppose you want to hear all about Saturday night, do you?"

"I've already heard all abou' it."

"Oh," Ron said, looking put out.

When we entered Hagrid's cabin, we saw Buckbeak, enjoying a plate of dead ferrets. I looked away, and spotted a hideous hairy brown suit and revolting orange-and-yellow tie hanging from Hagrid's wardrobe door. "What is _that_?"

"They're fer Buckbeak's case against the Committee fer the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. This Friday. Him an' me'll be goin' down ter London together. I've booked two beds on the Knight Bus..." We fell silent, and I shifted in my seat. I'd been so involved in everything else, I'd forgotten to contact Dracula again and ask him if he'd found anything.

Hagrid poured us some tea and offered us some Bath buns, but we declined; we'd had too much experience with his cooking. "I got somethin' ter discuss with you three."

"What?"

"Hermione."

"What about her?" Ron asked.

"She's in a righ' state, that's what. She's bin comin' down ter visit me a lot since Chris'mas. Bin feeling lonely. Firs' yeh weren' talkin' to her because o' the Firebolt, an' now yer not talkin' to her because her cat-"

"-ate Scabbers!" Ron interjected angrily.

"Because her cat acted like all cats do. She's cried a fair few times, yeh know. Goin' through a rough time at the moment. Bitten off more'n she can chew, if yeh ask me, all the work she's tryin' ter do. Still found time ter help with Buckbeak's case, mind...She's found some really good stuff fer me...reckon he'll stand a good chance now..."

"Hagrid, we should've helped as well-we're sorry-" Harry said.

"I'm not blamin' yeh! Gawd knows yeh've had enough ter be gettin' on with. I've seen yeh practicin Quidditch ev'ry hour o' the day an' night-but I gotta tell yeh, I thought you three'd value yer friend more'n broomsticks or rats. Tha's all." Ron, Harry, and I looked uncomfortably at each other. "Really upset, she was, when Black nearly stabbed yeh, Ron. She's got her heart in the right place, Hermione has, an' you not talkin' to her-"

"If she'd just get rid of that cat, I'd speak to her again! But she's still sticking up for it! It's a maniac, and she won't hear a word against it!"

"Well, people can be a bit stupid abou' their pets," Hagrid said as Buckbeak spat out some ferret bones from behind him.

* * *

When we entered the Gryffindor common room, a bunch of students surrounded the bulletin board. "Hogsmeade, next weekend!" Ron said, looking a the notice. "What d'you reckon?" he whispered to me and Harry. "Well, if Filch hasn't done anything about the passage into Honeydukes..."

"Harry!" Hermione's voice came from behind us. "Harry, if you go into Hogsmeade again...I'll tell Professor McGonagall about that map!"

"Can you two hear someone talking?" Ron snarled, not looking at her. "Ron, how can you let him go with you? After what Sirius Black nearly did to _you_! I mean it, I'll tell-"

"So now you're trying to get Harry expelled!" Ron said angrily. "Haven't you done enough damage this year?" She began to respond, but Crookshanks leapt into her lap. Hermione picked Crookshanks up and hurried away with him. Ron turned back to me and Harry. "So how about it? Last time we went, you didn't see anything. You haven't even been inside Zonko's yet!"

"Okay. But I'm taking the Cloak this time."

* * *

That Saturday, Harry, Ron and I went down to breakfast with the other Gryffindors. Hermione kept glancing at us, but didn't say anything. As we stepped out into the Entrance Hall, Ron and I waved at Harry. "See you when you get back!" We smirked, waving at him as we stepped outside.

A little while later, I jumped as Harry prodded me on the back, hidden under the Cloak. "It's me."

"Where were you?"

"Snape was hanging around." We headed up High Street, and Ron kept muttering, "Where are you? Are you still there? This is weird..."

We stepped into the post office. Ron pretended to check the price of an owl to send to Bill in Egypt so Harry could look around. Then we entered Zonko's, which, as usual, was packed with students. Harry whispered orders to me and Ron, and we bought the items he wanted. The morning was light, with a soft wind blowing, and we didn't feel like staying inside, so we headed up to see the Shrieking Shack.

"Even the Hogwarts ghosts avoid it," Ron told us as we looked up at the building. "I asked Nearly-Headless Nick...he says he's heard a very rough crowd lives here. Nobody can get in. Fred and George tried, obviously, but all the entrances are sealed shut."

Just then, we heard Malfoy's voice coming towards us. "...should have an owl from Father any day now. He had to go to the hearing to tell them about my arm...about how I couldn't use it for three months..." I heard Crabbe and Goyle snickering, and Malfoy continued. "I really wish I could hear that great hairy trying to defend himself...'There's no 'arm in 'im, 'onest-'...that hippogriff's as good as dead."

He noticed us, his usual sneer in place. "And what are you doing here, Weasley?" Malfoy glanced up at the Shrieking Shack. "Suppose you'd love to live here, wouldn't you, Weasley? Dreaming about having your own bedroom? I heard your family all sleep in one room-is that true?" I heard Harry whisper to Ron, "Leave him to me."

"We were just discussing your friend Hagrid. Just trying to imagine what he's saying to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. D'you think he'll cry when they cut off his hippogriff's-"

SPLAT.

Malfoy reeled backward as a fistful of mud hit him in the face. "What the-?" Ron was doubled up on the fence, laughing hysterically. I used him for support, since I was crying with laughter.

"What was that? Who did that?"

Ron finally caught his breath. "Very haunted up here, isn't it?"

SPLAT. Some mud hit Crabbe and Goyle this time. Goyle hopped around, trying to wipe the mud out of his eyes. "It came from over there!"

Crabbe stumbled forward, and a stick hit him in the back. He started toward me and Ron, but then tripped. As he did, Harry's Invisibility Cloak fell off of his face, revealing his head. Malfoy stared at him for a few seconds, and then yelled, running off down the hill with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

"Harry!" He pulled the Cloak up again, and we looked around to locate him. "You'd better run for it! It Malfoy tells anyone-"

"You'd better get back to the castle, quick!"

"See you later." We heard Harry's footsteps recede, and I bit my lip.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Ron and I came bursting into Snape's office. The Marauder's Map lay on the desk, written instead with four insults on it addressing Snape. "I-gave-Harry-that-stuff. Bought-it-in Zonko's...ages ago..." Ron gasped, clutching a stitch in his side. Lupin smiled. "Well, that clears that up. I'll take this back, shall I?" Lupin took the Marauder's Map from Snape, and put it inside his cloak. "Harry, Ron, Evangeline, come with me. I need a word about my vampire essay. Excuse us, Severus."

He led us out into the corridor, and Harry began to speak. "Professor, I-"

"I don't want to hear explanations." He glanced around, then dropped his voice. "I happen to know that this map was confiscated by Mr. Filch many years ago. Yes, I know it's a map," he said as we stared at him. "I don't want to know how you came by it, but I am astounded that you didn't turn it in. Particularly after what happened the last time a student left information about the castle lying around. And I can't let you have it back, Harry."

Harry nodded, then asked Lupin something. "Why did Snape think I'd gotten it from the manufacturers?"

"Because...because these mapmakers would've wanted to lure you out of school. They would've found it highly amusing."

"Do you know them?"

"We've met. Don't expect me to cover up for you again, Harry. I cannot make you take Sirius Black seriously. But I would've thought that what you have heard when the dementors draw near you would have more of an effect on you. Your parents gave their lives to save yours, Harry. It seems to me to be a pretty poor way to repay them-gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks." Lupin walked off, and Harry looked upset at his words.

Harry, Ron and I made our way slowly back to Gryffindor Tower. As we passed the statue of the one-eyed witch, Ron spoke. "It's my fault. I persuaded you to go. Lupin's right; it was stupid; we shouldn't have done it-"

He stopped talking as we reached the corridor outside Gryffindor Tower, and I saw Hermione walking fast towards us. Ron scowled. "Come to have a good gloat? Or have you just been to tell on us?"

"No," Hermione said quietly. Her eyes were filled with tears, and her lip was trembling. She held out a letter clutched in her hand. "I just thought you ought to know...Hagrid lost his case. Buckbeak's going to be executed."


	10. Chapter 10

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER TEN:**

* * *

"He sent me this." She held out the parchment, and we looked down at it. Large tears blotted the parchment, making it hard to read.

_"Dear Hermione,_

_We lost. I'm allowed to bring him back to Hogwarts._

_Execution date to be fixed._

_Beaky has enjoyed London._

_I won't forget all the help you gave us._

_Hagrid."_

"They can't do this," Harry said angrily. "They can't. Buckbeak isn't dangerous." Hermione sniffled, wiping her eyes. "Malfoy's dad's scared the Committee into doing it. You know what he's like. They're a bunch of doddery old fools, and they were scared. There will be an appeal, though, there always is. Only I can't see any hope...nothing will have changed."

"Yeah, it will," Ron said. "You won't have to do all the work alone this time, Hermione. I'll help." Hermione's lip trembled, and she threw her arms around Ron's neck. He looked startled, then patted her awkwardly on the back before she let go. "Ron, I'm really, really sorry about Scabbers-"

"Oh, well, he was old. And he _was_ useless. You never know, Mum and Dad might get me an owl now."

* * *

The new safety precautions installed since Black's latest break-in made it impossible for us to go visit Hagrid in the evening. The only time we could talk to him was during Care of Magical Creatures classes. He seemed to have gone numb from the verdict. "'S all my fault. Got all tongue-tied. They was all sittin' there in black robes an' I kept droppin' me notes an forgettin' all them dates yeh looked up fer me, Hermione. An' then Lucius Malfoy got up an' said his bit, an' the Committee jus' did exac'ly what he told 'em..."

"There's still the appeal," Ron said. "Don't give up, we're working on it!" I nodded. "I'm going to ask Drake if he's found anything that might help Buckbeak in the appeal."

We walked back up to the castle with the rest of the castle, and I could see Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle glancing back at us and laughing.

"'S no good. That Committee's in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. I'm jus' gonna make sure the rest o' Beaky's time is the best he's ever had. I owe him that..." He hurried back to his cabin, his face in his handkerchief.

"Look at him blubber!" We looked over to see Malfoy standing there. "He's pathetic! And_ he's_ supposed to be our teacher?" The four of us started towards Malfoy, and Hermione got there first, smacking him so hard across the face he stumbled backwards and fell onto the ground. She was about to start kicking him when we grabbed her, dragging her backward away from him. "Don't you_ dare_ call Hagrid pathetic, you foul-you evil-"

"Hermione!"

"Let me go!" She pulled out her wand, her eyes on fire as Malfoy stood up. "C'mon," he muttered to Crabbe and Goyle. I stared at Hermione, both shocked and impressed. "Harry, you'd _better_ beat him in the Quidditch Final! You just better had, because I can't _stand_ it if Slytherin wins!"

"We're due in Charms," Ron said, staring at Hermione. "We'd better go."

The four of us ran up the staircase, and Harry, Ron, and I entered Flitwick's classroom. "You're late, you three! Come along, quickly now, wands out! We're experimenting with Cheering Charms-let's divided into pairs, now..." Just then, I glanced around and saw Hermione wasn't there. "Where's Hermione?"

"That's weird. I mean, she was right beside us when we entered the classroom." Ron shrugged. "Maybe she went to the bathroom or something." I snorted. "And she got there in two seconds? I don't think so."

Hermione didn't turn up always lesson, though.

"She could've done with a Cheering Charms on her too," said Ron as we headed for lunch, the entire Charms class grinning widely. But she didn't show up for lunch either. "You don't think Malfoy did something to her, do you?" Ron asked me and Harry as we headed for Gryffindor Tower. We passed the trolls, gave the Fat Lady the password, and entered the portrait hole.

Hermione sat at a table, her head on her arms, fast asleep, her head on her open Arithmancy book. We sat down beside her, and I shook her awake. "W-what? Is it time to go? Which lesson do we have now?"

"Divination, but not for another twenty minutes. Where were you? Why weren't you in Charms?"

"What? Oh, no! I forgot to go to Charms!" I stared at her. "How could you forget to go to Charms? You were right outside the door with us!"

"I don't believe it! Was Professor Flitwick angry? Oh, it was Malfoy, I was thinking about him and I lost track of things!" Ron glanced around at the books and homework spread all over three tables. "You know what, Hermione? I think you're cracking up. You're trying to do too much." She brushed her hair out of her eyes, showing the bags under her eyes. "No, I'm not! I just made a mistake, that's all! I'd better go see Professor Flitwick and say sorry! I'll see you in Divination!" She threw her bag over her shoulder and headed out of the common room.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, she joined us in the Divination classroom, looked extremely upset. "I can't believe I missed Charms! And I bet they'll come up in our exams; Professor Flitwick hinted that they might!"

On every table was a crystal ball. The four of us sat down around the same table. "I thought we weren't starting crystal balls until next term."

"Don't complain," Harry muttered. "This means we've finished with palmistry. I was getting sick of her flinching every time she looked at my hands."

"Good day to you!" said Professor Trelawney, coming out of the shadows. "I have decided to introduce the crystal ball earlier than planned. The fates have informed me that your exam in June will concern the Orb, and I am anxious to to give you sufficient practice." Hermione snorted loudly at this. "Well, honestly! 'The fates have informed her'...who sets the exam? She does! What an _amazing_ prediction!" She didn't even bother to keep her voice down, and Harry, Ron, and I stifled our laughter.

I couldn't tell whether Professor Trelawney had heard her, but she continued on. "Crystal gazing is a particularly refined art. I do not expect any of you to See when you first look into the Orb's infinite depths. We shall start by practicing relaxing the conscious mind and external eyes"-I heard Ron snickering next to me-"so as to clear the Inner Eye and the superconscious. Perhaps, if we are lucky, some of you will See before the end of class today."

I stared into the crystal ball, my eyes glazing over. I was somewhat distracted by Ron's silent giggling and Hermione's constant tutting beside me. "Seen anything yet?" Harry muttered to me and Ron. "Yeah, there's a burn on this table," Ron said, pointing. "Somebody spilled a candle." I snorted.

"This is such a waste of time," Hermione muttered. "I could be practicing something useful, like Cheering Charms." Professor Trelawney came over. "Would anyone like me to help interpret the shadowy portents within their Orb?"

"I don't need any interpretation," I smirked. "It's obvious what this means. There's going to be lots of fog tonight." Half the class burst into laughter. "Now, really! You are disturbing the clairvoyant vibrations!" She walked over to our table, and I heard Harry groan. "There is something here! Something moving...but what? My dear...it is here, stalking towards you, growing ever closer...the Gr-"

"Oh, for heavens' sake!" Hermione snapped. "Not that ridiculous Grim _again_!" Professor Trelawney looked up at Hermione with anger in her eyes. "I am sorry to say that from the moment you have arrived in this class, my_ dear_, it has been apparent that you do not have what the noble art of Divination requires. I don't ever before remember meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly mundane." Silence reigned for a moment, and then Hermione stood up. "Fine!" She stuffed **_Unfogging_** _**the Future** _back into her bag, and swung it around, nearly knocking Ron out of his seat. "I give up! _I'm leaving!" _

We all stared as she went over to the trapdoor, kicked it open, and vanished from sight. It took a while for us to settle down again. Professor Trelawney turned away from our table, tugging her shawl around her. "Oooh!" Lavender Brown suddenly squealed, making us jump. "Professor Trelawney, I just remembered! You Saw her leaving, didn't you? Didn't you, Professor? 'Around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever!' You said it ages ago!" Professor Trelawney smiled at her. "Yes, I did indeed See that Miss Granger would be leaving us. One hopes, however, that one might have mistaken the Signs...the Inner Eye can be a burden, you know..."

"Some day Hermione's having, huh?" Ron muttered to me and Harry out of the edge of his mouth.

* * *

The Easter holidays were driving everybody crazy. Neville seemed about to faint from the stress constantly, and he wasn't the only one. "They call this a holiday!?" Seamus Finnigan yelled, slamming a book down on a desk. "The exams are ages away, what are they playing at?!" None of us had as much to do as Hermione, though. Even though she'd dropped Divination, she was still taking more classes than the rest of us. She was last to leave the common room at night and first to arrive at the library in the morning, and she constantly seemed close to tears.

Ron and I had taken over responsibility for Buckbeak's appeal. When we weren't working, we were going through books with names such as **_The Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology_ **and **_Fowl or Foul? A Study of Hippogriff Brutality. _**Ron had gotten so involved, he forgot to be mean to Crookshanks. I had contacted Dracula, and he told that he couldn't find anything that could possibly help with Buckbeak's appeal.

The final Quidditch match of the year, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, was coming with a highly charged atmosphere. Harry had barely any time to fit his homework in around his Quidditch practices, and Wood kept coming up to him, talking about the match. Slytherin was leading by two hundred points, and Wood kept reminding Harry that they needed to win by more than that if Gryffindor was going to get the Quidditch Cup this year.

"So you must catch it _only_ if we're _more than_ fifty points up. Only if we're more than fifty points up, Harry, or we win the match but lose the Cup. You've got that, haven't you? You must catch the Snitch only if we're-"

"I KNOW, OLIVER!"

* * *

The night before the match, noise filled the common room, and Hermione had even put down her books, saying that she couldn't concentrate. Wood was sitting in a corner, prodding little figures across a model of a Quidditch pitch and muttering under his breath. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie were laughing at the twin's jokes.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I sat in a corner, feeling worried about tomorrow's match. "You'll be fine," Hermione said, but she looked scared.

"You've got a Firebolt!" Ron said.

"Yeah..." Harry said.

Wood suddenly stood up and yelled, "Team! Bed!"

* * *

The next morning, me, Ron, and Hermione headed down to the Quidditch Pitch, wearing red carnations and carrying red flags with the Gryffindor lion on them. Not long after, the teams arrived on the Pitch, and Lee Jordan began his commentary. "And here are the Gryffindors! Potter, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good many years-" Lee was cut off by the "boos" from the Slytherins.

"And here come the Slytherin team, led by Captain Flint. He's made some changes in the lineup and seems to be going for size rather than skill-" More "boos" issued from the Slytherins. Despite that, Lee did have a point. Malfoy was obviously the smallest person on the team.

The two Captains shook hands, but it looked more to me as though each was trying to break the others' fingers. Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and both teams kicked off into the air.

"And it's Gryffindor in possession, Alicia Spinnet of Gryffindor wins the Quaffle, heading straight for the Slytherin goalposts, looking good, Alicia! Argh, no-Quaffle intercepted by Warrington-Warrington of Slytherin tearing up the field-WHAM!-nice Bludger work by George Weasley, Warrington drops the Quaffle, it's caught by-Johnson, Gryffindor back in possession, come on, Angelina-nice swerve around Montague-_duck, Angelina, that's a Bludger!_-SHE SCORES! TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

Angelina punched the air, and we roared our approval, but then Flint went slamming into her. A second later, Fred chucked his Beater's bat at the back of Flint's head. Madam Hooch awarded a penalty each to Gryffindor and Slytherin. "Come on, Alicia! YES! SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

Flint flew forward, and Lee continued. "'Course, Wood's a superb Keeper! Superb! Very difficult to pass-very difficult indeed-YES! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! HE'S SAVED IT!" Harry flew around the field, looking for the Snitch, and I continued to listen to the commentary. "Gryffindor in possession, no, Slytherin in possession-no-Gryffindor back in possession, and it's Katie Bell, Katie Bell for Gryffindor with the Quaffle, she's streaking up the field-THAT WAS DELIBERATE!" Montague had flown in front of Katie, and grabbed her head instead of the Quaffle.

A minute later, Katie got another penalty past the Slytherin Keeper. "THIRTY-ZERO! TAKE THAT, YOU DIRTY, CHEATING-!"

"Jordan, if you can't commentate in an unbiased way-!"

"I'm telling it like it is, Professor!"

A Bludger went past Harry's ear, and then the other grazed his elbow. Both of the Slytherin Beaters were flying straight at him, but he flew upward at the last second, and both Beaters collided. "Too bad, boys! You'll need to get up earlier than that to beat a Firebolt! And it's Gryffindor in possession again as Johnson takes the Quaffle-Flint alongside her-poke him in the eye, Angelina!-it's a joke, Professor, it's a joke-oh, no-Flint in possession, Flint flying toward the Gryffindor goalposts, come on now, Wood, save-!"

The Slytherins cheered and the rest of the stadium rang with "boos". Lee swore so violently that McGonagall tried to pull the megaphone away from him. "Sorry, Professor, sorry! Won't happen again! So, Gryffindor in the lead, thirty points to ten, and Gryffindor in possession-"

Bole hit Alicia with his club, and George elbowed his face in retaliation. Madam Hooch awarded a penalty each to Gryffindor and Slytherin. Wood saved the goal, making the score forty-ten for Gryffindor.

Katie scored again, making it fifty-ten, and Fred and George flew around her, clubs raised in case the Slytherin team tried another attack. Bole and Derrick took advantage of this, and sent both of the Bludgers at Wood. They both hit him in the stomach, and he rolled over in the air. Madam Hooch awarded Gryffindor another penalty, making it sixty-ten in our favor. Fred sent a Bludger at Warrington and knocking the Quaffle out of his hands. Alicia grabbed and put it through the Slytherin goalposts, making it seventy-ten.

I saw Harry speed up, and suddenly began slowing down. Malfoy had grabbed the tail of his Firebolt and was jerking it back. Madam Hooch awarded Gryffindor another penalty.

"YOU CHEATING SCUM! YOU FILTHY, CHEATING BASTARD!" McGonagall wasn't even telling him off. Instead, she was shaking her finger in Malfoy's direction, her hat had fallen off, and she was shouting at Malfoy too.

"Slytherin in possession, Slytherin heading for the goal-Montague scores-seventy-twenty to Gryffindor." Lee groaned, then continued. "Angelina Johnson gets the Quaffle for Gryffindor, come on, Angelina, come on!" Every Slytherin player, even the Keeper, were flying up the field toward Angelina. Harry turned his Firebolt, and flew at the players, who scattered, making a clear path for Angelina. "SHE SCORES! Gryffindor leads eighty points to twenty!"

Harry turned again, and then zoomed downward after Malfoy, who had spotted the Snitch. He knocked Malfoy's arm out of the way and pulled out of the dive, clutching the Snitch in his hand. The rest of the Gryffindor team flew towards him, hugging him in midair, and I could hear them shouting _"We've won the Cup! We've won the Cup!"_ at the top of their lungs. Ron, Hermione, and I ran down onto the field with the other Gryffindor supporters, and we all lifted the team onto our shoulders.

Hagrid was cheering. "Yeh beat 'em, Harry, yeh beat 'em! Wait 'till I tell Buckbeak!"

Percy was jumping up and down like a maniac, and McGonagall was wiping her eyes on a giant Gryffindor flag. Ron, Hermione, and I finally made it through to Harry, and he had a grin spreading from ear to ear on his face. Wood sobbed with joy as he passed Harry the Quidditch Cup, and Harry lifted it into the air, grinning even more. "Hey, Harry, c'mon! Party in the common room in half an hour!"


	11. Chapter 11

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER ELEVEN:**

* * *

My House's happiness at finally winning the Quidditch Cup lasted about a week. It felt as though even the weather was celebrating. The days became cloudless as June approached, and all the four of us felt like doing was going outside and flopping down on the grass while enjoying some iced pumpkin juice; but that wasn't an option. Exams were coming up on us, and we were stuck inside the castle, trying to force ourselves into concentrating while drifts of summer air came through the windows.

We'd given up asking Hermione how she was attending several classes at once, but we couldn't help ourselves when we saw her exam schedule. The first column read:

_Monday_

_9 o'clock, Arithmancy_

_9 o'clock, Transfiguration_

_Lunch_

_1 o'clock, Charms_

_1 o'clock, Ancient Runes_

"Um-Hermione?" Ron asked carefully, not wanting to upset her because she was so stressed out. "Are you sure you've copied down these times right?"

"Of course I have."

"D'you mind telling us how you're going to sit for two exams at once?" Harry asked.

"No. Have you three seen my copy of **_Numerology and Grammatica_**?"

"Yeah, I borrowed it for a bit of bedtime reading," Ron muttered to me and Harry as Hermione searched for her book. Just then, Hedwig flew in the window, a piece of parchment in her beak. "It's from Hagrid. Buckbeak's appeal-it's set for the sixth."

"That's when we finish our exams," I said. Hermione nodded, still looking for her Arithmancy book. "And they're coming up here to do it. Someone from the Ministry of Magic and-and an executioner." Hermione stopped looking for her book and stared at Harry. "They're bringing an executioner to the appeal!? But that makes it sound as though they've already decided!"

"Yeah, it does."

"They can't!" Ron yelled. "I spent ages reading up on stuff for him; they can't just ignore it!"

But I thought that Mr. Malfoy seemed to have decided the verdict for the committee. Draco was once again strutting around the castle, making comments about how Buckbeak was as good as dead. I could barely keep myself from hitting him in the face like Hermione had. We didn't even have any time to see Hagrid because of the newly-tightened security measures, and Harry couldn't get his Cloak from below the one-eyed witch.

* * *

Exam week started, and a tense silence fell over the castle. We left Transfiguration at lunchtime on Monday, comparing results and complaining about the difficulty of the tasks we'd been given, which included turning a teapot into a tortoise.

"Mine still had a spout for a tail..."

"Were the tortoises _supposed_ to breathe steam?"

"It still had a willow-patterned shell, d'you think that'll count against me?"

After a quick lunch, we hurried upstairs to Charms. Hermione had been right. Professor Flitwick had been planning to test us on Cheering Charms. Harry overdid his, and Ron had to be led out of the room before he'd calmed down enough to do it himself.

After dinner, we went back to the common room to study for Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, and Astronomy.

The next morning, Hagrid supervised the Care of Magical Creatures exam the next morning, but he seemed distracted. He'd provided us with a large tub of flobberworms, and told us that in order to pass the test, our flobberworm had to be alive by the end of the hour-long test. Considering that flobberworms flourished if left alone, it was the easiest test we'd ever had. It also gave us time to talk to Hagrid.

"Beaky's gettin' a bit depressed. Bin cooped up too long. But still...we'll know day after tomorrow...one way or the other-"

We had Potions that afternoon, which was a disaster. I couldn't get my Confusing Concoction right, and I saw Snape smirking as he walked past.

Then was Astronomy at midnight, on the tallest tower; History of Magic on Wednesday morning; Wednesday afternoon was Herbology; Wednesday night was Muggle History, and then Muggle Music.

* * *

Our second-to-last exam on Thursday morning was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Lupin had made the weirdest exam that I'd ever seen. It was a sort of obstacle course outside that involved wading across a small pond containing a grindylow; cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps; make our way across a patch of marsh while ignoring misleading directions from a hinkypunk; then climb into an old trunk and battle a boggart. Harry got through with full marks, and I watched Ron and Hermione make their way through before me. Ron did fine until he reached the hinkypunk, which confused him into sinking waist-high into a quagmire. Hermione was great until the boggart. She burst out of the chest, screaming. "Hermione, what's wrong?" Lupin asked, startled. "Professor McGonagall! She said I failed everything!" Ron and I couldn't restrain ourselves. We burst into uncontrollable laughter.

Finally came my turn. I hesitated as I drew nearer to the chest. The only way to get out of facing the boggart was to let myself be distracted by the hinkypunk, so that's what I did. I saw Lupin lift an eyebrow at this, and I knew that he knew I had done it on purpose.

As we made our way back up to the castle, we spotted Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic standing on the front steps. "Hello, Harry! Just had an exam, I expect? Nearly finished?"

"Yeah." Hermione, Ron, and I stood quietly in the background, not being on speaking terms with the Minister of Magic. "Lovely day. Pity..." He looked down at us. "I'm here on an unpleasant mission, Harry. The Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures required a witness to the execution of a mad hippogriff. As I needed to visit Hogwarts to check in on the Black situation, I was asked to step in."

Ron spoke up. "Does this mean the appeal's already happened?"

"No, it's scheduled for this afternoon."

"Then you might not have to witness an execution at all! Buckbeak might get off!" Just then, two other wizards came through the doors. One was an extremely old man, and the other was running his finger along the blade of a sharp axe. The old wizard looked over at Hagrid's cabin and sighed, shaking his head. "I'm getting too old for this...Two o'clock, isn't it, Fudge?"

Ron opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione elbowed him hard in the ribs. As we went inside, he glared at her. "What'd you stop me for? Did you see them?! They've even got the axe ready! This isn't justice!"

"Ron, your dad works for the Ministry of Magic! You can't just mouth off to his boss! As long as Hagrid keeps his head this time, and argues his case properly, they can't possibly execute Buckbeak..." But I could tell that Hermione didn't believe what she was saying.

* * *

Harry's, Ron's, and my last exam was Divination; Hermione's was Muggle Studies. We climbed the marble stairs together, and Hermione left us on the first floor while we headed up to the seventh floor, where the rest of the class was waiting. "She's seeing us all separately," Neville told us as we sat down next to him. "Have any of you ever seen anything in a crystal ball?"

"Nope."

The line outside the classroom shortened, and as each person climbed down the ladder, everybody asked, "What did she ask? Was it okay?" But they all wouldn't say. "She says the crystal ball's told her that if I tell you, I'll have a horrible accident!" Neville whispered as he climbed back down the ladder. I snorted. "That's convenient." Ron nodded. "You know, I'm starting to think Hermione was right about her. She's a right old fraud."

"Yeah...wish she'd hurry up," Harry said, checking his watch. Parvati came down, beaming. "She says I've got the makings of a true Seer! I saw loads of stuff! Well...good luck!"

"Ronald Weasley," Trelawney's voice called from above us. Ron sighed and climbed the ladder. Now it was just me and Harry. After about twenty minutes, he came back down. "How'd it go?"

"Rubbish. Couldn't see a thing, so I made up some stuff. Don't think she was convinced, though."

"Evangeline Lestrade!" I grimaced back at Harry, then climbed the ladder. When I came back down, Harry asked me how it had gone. "Well...I told her I saw myself being set on fire, but I don't think she bought it."

Harry laughed as she called his name. "Meet you back in the common room."

"Right. See ya later."

* * *

About a half-hour later, Harry came bursting into the common room, out of breath. "Professor Trelawney just told me-" Harry looked around at our sad faces. "What's wrong?"

"Buckbeak lost. Hagrid just sent us this." Ron held out the note from Hagrid.

_Lost appeal. They're going to execute at sunset. _

_Nothing you can do. Don't come down._

_I don't want you to see it._

_Hagrid._

Harry looked at us. "We've got to go. He can't just sit there on his own, waiting for the executioner!" Ron frowned, looking out the window. "Sunset, though. We'd never be allowed...'specially you, Harry." Harry put his head in his hands. "If we only had the Invisibility Cloak..."

"Where is it?" Hermione said suddenly. Harry told her where it was. "...but if Snape sees me anywhere near there, I'm in serious trouble."

"Wait here." She got up and left the common room. "She hasn't gone to go get it?" Hermione returned fifteen minutes later with the Cloak. "Hermione, I don't know what's gotten into you lately!" Ron said, grinning. "First you hit Malfoy, then you walk out on Professor Trelawney-" Hermione looked flattered.

* * *

We headed down to dinner with everyone else, but didn't head back to the common room afterward. Instead, we put the Cloak on in an empty room, then snuck down to Hagrid's. We knocked a couple times, and he opened the door, looking pale as he glanced around for who had knocked. "It's us," Harry whispered. "We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off."

"Yeh shouldn've come!" Despite saying this, Hagrid swung the door open and let us in. He shut the door quickly and we removed the Cloak. He wasn't crying, and he didn't throw himself sobbing upon our necks. Instead, he looked like someone who didn't know what on earth to do. That scared me. "Wan' some tea?" He picked up the kettle with shaking hands. "Where's Buckbeak, Hagrid?" I asked.

"I-I took him outside. He's tethered in me pumpkin patch. Thought he oughta see the trees an'-an' smell fresh air-before-"

His hands began shaking so violently that he dropped the milk jug and it shattered all over the floor. "I'll get it, Hagrid," Hermione said, cleaning up the mess. "There's another one in the cupboard," Hagrid said, sitting down and wiping his forehead on his sleeve. We glanced at each other. "Isn't there anything anyone can do? Dumbledore-"

"He's tried. He's got no power ter overrule the Committee. He told 'em Buckbeak's all right, but they're scared...Yeh know what Lucius Malfoy's like...threatened 'em, I expect...an' the executioner, Macnair, he's an old pal o' Malfoy's...but it'll be quick an' clean...an' I'll be beside him...Dumbledore's gonna come down while it-while it happens. Wrote me this mornin'. Said he wants ter-ter be with me. Great man, Dumbledore..." Hermione stood up, holding the new milk jug, her eyes filled with tears. "We'll stay with you, too, Hagrid."

He shook his head. "Yeh're ter go back up ter the castle. I told yeh, I don' want yeh watchin'. An' yeh shouldn' be down here, anyway...If Fudge an' Dumbledore catch yeh out without permission, yeh'll be in big trouble." Hermione bustled around making tea, trying to hide her tears. As she picked up the milk jug, she let out a loud shriek, making us all jump. "Ron! I-I don't believe it! It's _Scabbers_!"

Ron stared at her. "What?!" Hermione carried the milk jug over and upended it. Scabbers came sliding out, and began squeaking frantically as he tried to hide in the milk jug again. "Scabbers! Scabbers, what are you doing here?" Ron grabbed Scabbers. He looked awful. Most of his hair had fallen out, leaving large bald patches, and he had gotten considerably thinner. "It's okay, Scabbers! No cats! You're safe!"

Hagrid stood up quickly, glancing out the window. "They're comin'..." We whirled around and saw a group of men headed towards Hagrid's hut. "Yeh gotta go. They mustn' find yeh here...Go, now..." Ron placed Scabbers in his pocket and Hermione grabbed the Cloak. "I'll let yeh out the back way."

Hagrid took us out into the garden, where Buckbeak was tethered. Buckbeak was pawing the ground nervously, as though he knew something was going to happen. "It's okay, Beaky," Hagrid whispered. "It's okay..." He turned to us. "Go on. Get goin'." We didn't move.

"Hagrid, we can't-"

"We'll tell them what really happened-"

"They can't possibly kill him if they hear what we have to say-"

"They can't kill him-"

"Go! It's bad enough without you lot in trouble an' all!"

Hermione threw the Cloak over the four of us just as we heard voices from the front of the cabin. Hagrid looked at the place we'd vanished. "Go. Don' listen..." Hagrid walked back into his cabin as someone knocked on the front door.

"Please, let's hurry," Hermione whispered, her voice pained. "I can't stand it, I can't bear it..." We headed up the sloping lawn to the castle, and Ron stopped dead. "Ron, please, come on..."

"It's Scabbers-he won't-stay put-" Scabbers was going crazy, twisting and turning, trying to get free of Ron's grasp. "Scabbers, it's me, you idiot, it's Ron..." We heard men's voices, and then a door opened. "Ron, please, let's go!" I began tugging on his arm.

"Ron, they're about to do it!" Hermione moaned. "Okay...Scabbers, stay _put_!" We started forward again, but Ron stopped once more. "I can't hold him-Scabbers, be quiet, everyone will hear us!" Scabbers was squeaking loudly, but not loud enough to cover up the sounds from Hagrid's garden. We heard a swish of an ax, and then a dull thud. Hermione looked as though she were about to faint, and Harry, Ron, and I froze in shock. "They did it!" Hermione gasped. "I can't believe it-They did it!"


	12. Chapter 12

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER TWELVE:**

* * *

We stood there, transfixed, unable to process what had just happened. Behind us, we heard a wild howling. "Hagrid," Harry muttered. He made to turn back, but we grabbed him by the arms. "We can't," Ron said, his face stark-white. "He'll be in worse trouble if they know we went to see him..." Hermione was gasping for breath. "How-could-they? How _could_ they?"

"Come on," I said to the others, my voice trembling. We headed back towards the castle, making sure to keep ourselves concealed underneath the Cloak. "Scabbers, hold still," Ron hissed, holding Scabbers firmly in his grip. "What's the matter with you, you stupid rat? Stay still-OUCH! He bit me!"

"Ron, shut up!" I hissed. "Fudge'll be back out in a minute!"

"He won't-stay-put-" Scabbers was flailing around, fighting to get free. "What's the matter with him?" Just then, I saw Crookshanks making his way quietly towards us. "Crookshanks! No, Crookshanks! Go away, Crookshanks! Go away!" Hermione moaned under her breath.

"SCABBERS, NO!" Scabbers had freed himself from Ron's grasp and hit the ground, running off. Crookshanks sped after him, and Ron threw the Cloak off of him, then ran after Scabbers. "Ron!" We looked at each other, and then ran after Ron. The Cloak hindered our progress, so we threw it off, and ran full-out after Ron.

"Get away from him-get away-Scabbers, come here!" We heard a thud. "Gotcha! Get off, you stupid cat!" We stopped within a few feet of Ron. "Ron-come on-back under the Cloak-" Hermione gasped. "The Minister and Dumbledore-they'll be coming back in a minute-" Before we were able to cover ourselves back up, though, a gigantic black dog sprung out of the trees, and leapt at us. Harry pulled out his wand, but the dog's front paws hit him on the chest, knocking him over. It rolled off of Harry, and ran back at us for another attack. This time, it grabbed Ron's arm in its teeth and began dragging him away.

Something hit me in the stomach, and I was thrown backwards. Beside me, I heard a thud, then Harry grunting in pain. Hermione yelped in pain and fell backwards too. _"Lumos!"_ Harry whispered, and we looked up. We'd followed Scabbers into the shadow of the Whomping Willow, and its branches were, as usual, stopping anyone from coming any closer.

At the base of the trunk, the dog was dragging Ron towards a large gap in the roots-Ron was fighting, but his head and chest were starting to slip out of sight. "Ron!" Harry ran forward, but was thrown back once again. All I saw now was Ron's leg, which he had hooked around a limb to keep from being pulled further underground; but I heard a sharp crack, and Ron screamed in pain as his leg was broken, and the dog pulled him out of sight.

"Harry-Evangeline-we've got to go for help-" Hermione whispered urgently. Her arm was bleeding; she'd been cut on the shoulder by the Whomping Willow. Harry shook his head. "No! That thing's big enough to eat him. We haven't got time!" I looked over at him. "Harry, we'll never get through without help!"

"If that dog can get in, we can." We tried dodging the branches, but couldn't get any closer. Hermione bit her lip. Just then, Crookshanks sped past us, and pressed a knot on the tree. Immediately, the tree stopped flailing around, as if it had turned to stone. "Crookshanks! How did he know?"

"He's friends with that dog," Harry said. "Come on-and keep your wand out." We ran after Crookshanks and slid down into the tunnel. "Where's Ron?"

"This way." We set off, and I looked over at Harry. "Where does this tunnel come out?"

"I don't know...It's marked on the Marauder's Map, but Fred and George said nobody's ever gotten into it...It goes off the edge of the map, and it looks like it ends up in Hogsmeade." Slowly, the tunnel began to rise, and I saw a small patch of light through the opening. We stopped for breath, and glanced around. In front of us was a dusty room. Wallpaper was peeling from the walls; stains were all over the floor; all the furniture was broken; and all the windows had been boarded up.

"I think we're in the Shrieking Shack," Hermione whispered to us. Harry frowned, looking at a chair with one of the legs ripped clean off. "Ghosts didn't do that."

We heard a creak from overhead. Harry looked over at me and Hermione, and we nodded back at him. We made our way quietly out into the hall and up the stairs. _"Nox."_ The light on our wands went out. A door was open at the end of the corridor, and we heard noises from inside. I looked at the others, and they both nodded silently, then Harry kicked the door open.

Crookshanks sat on a bed, purring, and Ron lay on the floor next to him, his eyes screwed up in pain, and his leg was sticking out at an odd angle. "Ron!"

"Are you okay?"

"Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog," Ron hissed, clutching his leg. "Harry, it's a trap."

"What-"

_"He's the dog-he's an Animagus-"_

We whirled around, and a man behind us shut the door. It was Sirius Black._ "Expelliarmus!" _he said, pointing Ron's wand at us. Immediately, our wands flew out of our hands into Black's hand. He approached us, his eyes set on Harry. "I thought you'd come and help your friend. Your father would've done the same for me. Brave of you, not to get a teacher. I'm grateful...this will make everything much easier..." I looked over at Harry, who had a muscle going in his jaw. He suddenly leapt at Black, but Hermione, Ron, and I grabbed him, pulling him back. "No, Harry!" Hermione said in a scared whisper.

Ron glared at Black. "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill all of us!" Black looked over at him. "Lie down. You will only damage that leg further if you continue to stand." Ron grimaced, but continued to stand. "Do you hear me? You'll have to kill all of us!"

"No. There will be only one murder tonight." Harry struggled against us. "Why's that? Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind killing all those Muggles to get to Pettigrew...gone soft in Azkaban, have you?"

"Harry, shut up!" I whispered.

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry broke free of us and ran right at Black. Black didn't raise the wands fast enough, and Hermione started screaming when Harry began punching Black. Ron was yelling, and I stood there, not knowing what to do. Black suddenly seized Harry by the throat and began choking him. "I've waited too long..." Hermione suddenly kicked Black in the head, and he released Harry with a grunt. Our wands fell out of Black's hand, but before Harry could grab his back, Crookshanks had sunk his claws into Harry's arm, and Harry let out a yell. Harry threw him off, and Crookshanks dove at Harry's wand.

Harry aimed a kick at Crookshanks, and grabbed his wand. "Get out of the way!" Hermione grabbed our wands, and Hermione and I helped Ron over to the bed. Harry approached Black, his wand pointed right at him. "Going to kill me, Harry?"

"You killed my parents."

"I don't deny it. But if you knew the whole story-"

"The whole story!? You sold them off to Voldemort! That's all I need to know!"

"You've got to listen to me. You'll regret it if you don't. You don't understand."

"I understand a lot better than you think." Harry's voice had begun to shake. "You don't hear her. My mum...trying to stop Voldemort from killing me...you did that." Just then, Crookshanks ran past Harry, and settled himself on Black's chest. Black looked down at Crookshanks, obviously surprised. "Get off." He tried to push Crookshanks off, but Crookshanks sank his claws into Black's shirt and didn't let go.

Suddenly, we all heard somebody moving downstairs. Hermione opened her mouth, and began yelling at the top of her lungs. "WE'RE UP HERE! WE'RE UP HERE! SIRIUS BLACK-QUICK! HELP US!" The door burst open, and Professor Lupin ran into the room. He glanced around the room, and then raised his wand. _"Expelliarmus!"_

Immediately, our wands flew out of our hands once again, and Lupin caught them. He turned to Black. "Where is he, Sirius?" Black pointed over at Ron. I looked at the other three, confused. What was Lupin talking about? "But then...why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless...he was the one...and you switched...without telling me?" Black nodded silently. "Professor, what-" Harry began, but he never finished. Lupin pulled Black to his feet, dislodging Crookshanks, and hugged him tightly.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" We all turned to look at Hermione, who had a look of betrayal written all over her face. "You-you-"

"Hermione-"

"-you and him!"

"Hermione, calm down-"

"I didn't tell anybody! I covered up for you!"

"Hermione, listen to me! I can explain!"

Harry glared at Lupin. "I trusted you! All this time you've been his friend!"

"You're wrong! I've haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am now-let me explain-"

"NO!" Hermione yelled. "Harry, don't trust him! He's been helping Black get into the castle! He wants you dead too! _He's a werewolf_!" Lupin turned to look at her. "Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione. Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle, and I don't want Harry dead...but I won't deny that I am a werewolf."

Lupin turned to Hermione. "How long have you known?"

"Ages. Since I did Professor Snape's essay." Lupin chuckled dryly. "He'll be delighted. He assigned that essay hoping someone would know what my symptoms meant. Did you check the lunar chart and realize that I was always ill at the full moon? Or was it that you realized that my boggart changed into the full moon?"

"Both."

"You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."

"No, I'm not! If I'd been cleverer, I would've told everyone what you are!"

"But they already know. At least, the staff do."

"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf!? Is he mad!?"

"Some of the staff certainly thought so. He had to convince certain teachers I'm trustworthy-"

"AND HE WAS WRONG! YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!"

"I have _not_ been helping Sirius. If you give me a chance, I'll explain. Here-" He threw our wands back at us. "There." He stuck his own wand into his belt. "You're armed, we're not. Now, will you listen?" Harry glanced from him to Black, and then back again. "If you haven't been helping him, how did you know he was here?"

"The map. The Marauder's Map. I was in my office, looking it over-"

"You know how to work it?" Lupin scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Of course I know how to work it. I helped write it. I'm Moony. That was my friend's nickname for me at school."

"You wrote-?"

"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had a suspicion that you four might try to sneak out of the castle and visit Hagrid before his hippogriff was executed. And I was right. You might have been wearing your father's old Cloak, Harry-"

"How d'you know about the Cloak?"

Lupin waved his hand dismissively. "The number of times I saw James disappearing under it...the point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you still show up on the Marauder's Map. I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid, and set off back towards the castle. But you were now accompanied by someone else."

"What?! No, we weren't!"

"I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"

"Nobody was with us!" Harry said.

"And then I saw another dot, moving fast toward you, labeled _Sirius Black_...I saw him collide with you; I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow..."

"One of us!" Ron said angrily.

"No. Two of you." He turned to look at Ron. "Do you think I could look at the rat?"

"What's Scabbers got to do with it?"

"Everything. Can I just please see him?" Ron slowly put his hand inside his robes, pulling out a struggling Scabbers. "What's my rat got to do with it?"

"That's not a rat," Sirius Black suddenly said.

"What're you talking about!? Of course he's a rat!"

"No, he's not," Lupin said. "He's a wizard." Sirius Black nodded. "An Animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew."


	13. Chapter 13

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN:**

* * *

Ron finally broke the silence. "You're both mental."

"Ridiculous!" Hermione said.

"Peter Pettigrew's _dead_! _He_ killed him!" Harry pointed at Black. "I meant to...but Peter got the better of me...not this time, though!" He lunged at Scabbers, and Ron screamed in pain as Black fell on Ron's broken leg.

"Sirius, no!" Lupin ran forward, dragging Black away from Ron. "Wait! You can't do it just like that! They need to understand! We've got to explain!"

"We-can-explain-after!" Black snarled, fighting to free himself from Lupin's grip. "They've-got-a-right-to-know-everything! Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don't understand! And you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!" Black stopped struggling, and took a few deep breaths. "All right. Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for."

"You're mental, both of you," Ron said, looking at the two of them. "I've had enough of this. I'm leaving." He made to get up, but Lupin raised his wand, pointing it at Scabbers. "You're going to hear me out, Ron. Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen."

"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!" Ron began to sway, and I pushed him back onto the bed. Harry turned to face Lupin. "There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die. A whole street full of them..."

"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" said Black, still eyeing Scabbers.

"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter. I believed it myself...until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder's Map never lies. Peter's alive. Ron's holding him." Hermione suddenly spoke up, her voice trembling. "Professor Lupin...Scabbers can't be Pettigrew...it just can't be true, you know it can't..."

"Why not, Hermione?"

"Because people would _know_ if Peter Pettigrew had been an Animagus. We studied Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework. The Ministry of Magic keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals. There's a register showing what animal they can become, and their markings and things...and I looked Professor McGonagall up on the register, and there have been only seven Animagi on the register this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list-"

Lupin laughed. "Right again, Hermione. But the Ministry never knew there used to be three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts."

"If you're going to tell them the story, get on with it. I've waited twelve years, I'm not going to wait much longer."

"All right, Sirius. But you're going to have to help me. I only know how it began." Lupin stopped talking. The door had creaked open behind him. He crossed over to the door and looked out into the hallway. "Nobody there..."

"That's because this place is haunted!" Ron said.

"It's not. The Shrieking Shack was never haunted. The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me. That's where all of this starts-with my becoming a werewolf. None of this would've happened if I hadn't been bitten...and if I hadn't been so foolhardy." He took a deep breath, and continued. "I was a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days, there was no cure. The potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it in the week preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform. I'm able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully-fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me. But then Dumbledore became headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason why I shouldn't come to Hogwarts..."

Lupin looked over at Harry. "I told you months ago that the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is that it was planted _because_ I came to Hogwarts. This house-the tunnel that leads to it-they were built for my use. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The Whomping Willow was placed at the tunnel entrance to stop anybody from coming across me while I was dangerous."

I didn't know what to make of this, but continued listening nonetheless.

"My transformations in those days were terrible. It's very painful to turn into a werewolf. I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead. The villagers heard the noise and the screaming and thought they were hearing particularly violent spirits. Dumbledore encouraged the rumor. Even now, when the house has been silent for years, the villagers don't dare approach it...But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and of course, your father, Harry-James Potter."

Lupin sighed, then continued speaking. "Now, my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them that my mother was ill, and I had to go see her...I was terrified that they would desert me the moment they found what I was. But they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth...and they didn't desert me at all. Instead, they did something for me that would not only make my transformations bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi."

Harry spoke up. "My dad too?"

"Yes. It took them the better part of three years to work out how to do it. Your father and Sirius here were the cleverest students in the school, and lucky they were, because the Animagus transformation can go horribly wrong-one reason the Ministry keeps a close watch on those attempting to do it. Peter needed all the help he could get from James and Sirius. Finally, in our fifth year, they managed it. They could each turn into a different animal at will."

"But...how did that help you?" I asked.

"They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals. A werewolf is only a danger to people. They sneaked out of the castle every month under James's Invisibility Cloak. They transformed...Peter, as the smallest, could slip beneath the Willow's attacking branches and touch the knot that freezes it. They would then slip down the tunnel and join me. Under their influence, I became less dangerous. My body was still wolfish, but my mind seemed to become less so while I was with them."

"Hurry up, Remus," Black growled, not taking his eyes off of Scabbers.

"I'm getting there, Sirius, I'm getting there...well, highly exciting possibilities were open to us now that we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the school grounds and village by night. Sirius and James transformed into such large animals, they were able to keep a werewolf in check. I doubt whether any Hogwarts students found out more about the Hogwarts grounds and Hogsmeade than we did...and that's how we came to write the Marauder's Map and sign it with our nicknames. Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs."

"What sort of animal-?"

Hermione cut Harry off. "That was still really dangerous! What if you'd given the others the slip, and bitten somebody?"

"A thought that still haunts me. And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless-carried away with our own cleverness. I sometimes feel guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust, of course...he had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and others' safety. He never knew I had led three fellow students into becoming Animagi illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month's adventure. And I haven't changed..."

His face hardened. "All this year, I've been battling with myself, wondering whether I should inform Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn't. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would've meant that I had betrayed his trust while at school, and Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the castle using Dark Arts he had learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it...so, in a way, Snape's been right about me all along."

"Snape?" Black looked up, frowning. "What's Snape got to do with it?"

"He's here, Sirius. He's teaching here as well." Lupin looked over at us. "Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He's been telling Dumbledore all year that I'm not to be trusted. He has his reasons...you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me-"

Black snorted. "It served him right. Sneaking around, trying to figure out what we were up to...hoping he could get us expelled..."

"Severus was very interested in where I went every month. We were in the same year, and we-um-didn't like each other very much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James's talent on the Quidditch field...anyway, Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me toward the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be...amusing to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree trunk with a long stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, naturally, Snape tried it-if he'd got as far as this house, he would've met a fully grown werewolf-but your father, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life...Snape glimpsed me though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anyone what I was, but from that time on, he knew what I was..."

Harry frowned. "So Snape doesn't like you because he thinks you were in on the joke?"

"That's right," a cold voice said from behind us. We wheeled around as Snape pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, his wand pointed at Lupin.


	14. Chapter 14

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**

* * *

**LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR THREE:  
**

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN:**

* * *

Hermione screamed, and Ron, Harry, and I jumped. "I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," Snape said, tossing the Cloak aside while still keeping his wand pointed at Lupin. "Very useful, Potter, I thank you. You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here? I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And it's very lucky I did...lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One look told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."

"Severus-"

"I've told the headmaster time and time again that you've been helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have had the nerve to use this old place as your hideout-"

"Severus, you're making a mistake. You haven't heard everything. I can explain. Sirius isn't here to kill Harry."

"Two more for Azkaban tonight. I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this. He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin...a _tame_ werewolf..."

"You fool. Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back in Azkaban?" Thin cords burst from Snape's wand and secured themselves around Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles, and he fell to the floor, unable to move. Black started towards Snape, but Snape pointed his wand right between Black's eyes. "Give me a reason. Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will." Black stopped, glaring daggers at Snape.

I stood there, glancing from one face to the other. Hermione stepped forward, and spoke carefully, as though weighing her words, "Professor Snape-it-it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, would it?"

"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school. You, Potter, Weasley, and Lestrade are out-of-bounds and in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life, hold your tongue."

"But if-if there was a mistake-"

"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL! DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" I pulled out my wand, my eyes flashing with anger as I pointed it at him. "I'd advise you not to speak to my friends in that manner, Buzzard-Beak." Before I realized what had happened, I was thrown backwards by a spell, and smashed into the wall. I bit back a scream of pain as I felt a couple of my ribs crack. "Don't you _dare_ speak to me like that!"

He turned to Sirius, ignoring the yells of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Vengeance is sweet. How I hoped I'd be the one to catch you..."

"The joke's on you again, Severus," Black growled. "As long as that boy brings his rat up to the castle-" I dimly saw him pointing at Ron, "-I'll come quietly."

"Up to the castle?" Snape laughed, and a foreboding chill went down my spine. "I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the dementors once we get out of the Willow. They'll be very happy to see you, Black...happy enough to give you a little Kiss, I daresay..."

"You-you've got to hear me out. The rat-look at the rat-" Snape ignored him. "Come on, all of you." Snape snapped his fingers, and the ends of the ropes binding Lupin flew into his hand. "I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the dementors might have a Kiss for him, too-"

Harry suddenly stood in front of Snape, blocking the door. "Get out of the way, Potter. You're in enough trouble already. If I hadn't been here to save your skin-"

"Professor Lupin could've killed me about a hundred time this year. I've been alone with him loads of times, having defense lessons against the dementors. If he was helping Black, why didn't he just finish me off then?"

"Don't ask me to fathom the way a werewolf's mind works. Get out of the way, Potter."

"YOU'RE PATHETIC! JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OUT OF YOU AT SCHOOL, YOU WON'T EVEN LISTEN-"

"SILENCE! I WON'T BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" Sparks flew out of Snape's wand. "Like father, like son, Potter! I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would've been well-served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like your father, too arrogant too believe you might be mistaken in Black-now get out of the way or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!"

_"EXPELLIARMUS!"_ Four voices, including my own, had uttered the spell, and Snape was knocked out. Black looked over at us. "You shouldn't have done that. You should've left him to me..."

Hermione stared at Snape's limp form. "We attacked a teacher...we attacked a teacher...ohhh, we're going to be in so much trouble..." I clutched my ribs, watching Black untie Lupin. "Thank you."

"I'm still not saying I believe you," Harry said.

"Then it's time we gave you some proof," Black said. "You, boy-give me Peter. Now." Ron looked around at us. "Come off it. Are you trying to say that he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean...okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat. There are millions of rats. How's he supposed to know which one he's after when he's been locked up in Azkaban?"

"You know, Sirius, that's a good question. How _did_ you find out where he was?" Black took out a crumpled piece of paper, and smoothed it out for us to see. It was the photo of Ron and his family in Egypt the previous summer, and there, perched on Ron's shoulder, was Scabbers. "Sirius, how did you get this?"

"The Minister of Magic. When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page...on this boy's shoulder...I knew him at once...how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts...to where Harry was..."

"My God. His front paw..."

"What about it?" Ron asked.

"He's got a toe missing."

Lupin nodded, still studying the photo. "Of course. So simple...so brilliant...he cut it off himself?"

"Just before he transformed. When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lilly and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself-and took off into the sewer with the other rats."

"Didn't you ever hear, Ron?" Lupin asked. "The biggest part of Peter they found was his finger."

"Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages!"

"Twelve years, Ron," Lupin said quietly. "Now, didn't you ever wonder why he's been living so long?"

"W-We've been taking good care of him!"

"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he? I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose."

"He's been scared of that mad cat!" Ron said, pointing at Crookshanks. Black shook his head. "This cat isn't mad. He's the most intelligent of his kind that I've ever met. He recognized Peter for what he was right away. And when he met me, he knew I was no dog. It was a while before he trusted me...Finally, I managed to communicate to him what I was after, and he's been helping me..."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"He tried to bring Peter to me, but couldn't...so he stole the passwords into Gryffindor Tower for me...As I understand it, he took them from a boy's bedside table. But Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it. This cat-Crookshanks, did you call him?-told me Peter had left blood on the sheets...I suppose he bit himself...Well, faking his own death worked once..."

Harry glared at Black. "And why did he fake his death? Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"

"Harry-" Lupin started to say, but Harry cut him off. "And now you've come to finish him off!"

"Yes, I have."

"Then I should've let Snape take you!"

"Harry," Lupin cut in, "don't you see? All this time, we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down-but it was the other way around. _Peter_ betrayed your mother and father-Sirius tracked _Peter_ down-"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE! HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP! HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!" Black looked up at Harry, his eyes haunted. "Harry...I as good as killed them. I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use Peter as Secret-Keeper instead...I'm to blame, I know it...The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he was gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house right away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies...I realized what Peter must have done...what I'd done..."

"Enough of this," Lupin said, a steely tone in his voice. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat."

"What are you going to do to him?"

"Force him to show himself. If he's really a rat, it won't hurt him." Ron hesitated for a few minutes, and then held out Scabbers. Immediately, Scabbers began trying to free himself. "Ready, Sirius?" Black had taken Snape's wand from the bed, and was pointing it at Scabbers, his face set. "Together?"

"I think so. On the count of three. One-two-THREE!" Ron yelled as Scabbers fell to the floor. Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and we watched as a man appeared in the spot where Scabbers had previously been. "Well, hello, Peter," Lupin said casually. "Long time no see."

"S-Sirius...R-Remus...My friends...my old friends..." I couldn't help but notice that his beady little eyes kept darting around the room, more often than not landing on the door. "We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed-"

"Remus, you don't believe him, do you? He tried to kill me, Remus..."

"So we've heard. I'd like to clear up one or two little matters, Peter, if you'd be so-"'

"He's come to try and kill me again!" Peter squealed, pointing at Black. He used his middle finger, because his index finger was missing. "He killed Lily and James, and now he's going to kill me...you've got to help me, Remus..."

"Nobody's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," Lupin said calmly.

"Sorted things out?! I knew he'd come after me! I knew he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!" Lupin frowned. "You knew that Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban? When nobody has ever done it before?"

"He's got Dark powers the rest of us can only dream of! How else did he get out of there? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks!" Black snorted at this. "Voldemort, teach me tricks?" Pettigrew flinched. "What, scared to hear your old master's name?" Black chuckled. "I don't blame you. His crowd aren't overly pleased with you, now, are they?"

"Don't know what you mean, Sirius-"

"You haven't been hiding from _me_ for twelve years. You've been hiding from Voldemort's old supporters. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter...They all think you're dead, or you'd have to answer to them...I've heard them screaming all sorts of things in their sleep. Sounds like they think the double-crosser double-crossed them. Voldemort went to the Potters' on your information...and Voldemort met his downfall there. And not all of Voldemort's supporters ended up in Azkaban, did they? There are still plenty out here, biding their time, pretending they've seen the error of their ways. If they ever got wind you were still alive, Peter-"

"Don't know...what you're talking about..." Pettigrew looked over at Lupin. "You don't believe this-this madness, do you, Remus?"

"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understanding why an innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat."

"Innocent, but scared! If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban-the spy, Sirius Black!" Black glared at him. "How dare you. I, a spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? But you, Peter-I'll never understand why I didn't see you were the spy from the start. You always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us...me and Remus...and James..."

"Me, a spy...must be out of your mind...never...don't know how you can say such a-"

"Lily and James made you Secret-Keeper only because I suggested it," Black hissed, his eyes fixed on Pettigrew. "I thought it was the perfect plan...a bluff...Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you...It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters." Pettigrew started muttering words like "far-fetched" and "lunacy", but I noticed that his eyes kept flicking towards the boarded-up windows and the door.

"Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked suddenly. "May I ask a question?"

"Certainly."

"Well, this man...he's been living in Harry's dormitory for three years now. If he's working for You-Know-Who, how come he hasn't tried to hurt Harry before now?"

"There! Thank you! You see, Remus? I have never hurt a hair on Harry's head! Why should I?"

"I'll tell you why," Black said. "Because you never did anything for anybody unless you could see what was in it for you. Voldemort's been in hiding for twelve years, they say he's half-dead. You weren't about to commit murder right under Albus Dumbledore's nose, for a wreak of a wizard who had lost all his power, were you? You'd want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully in the playground before you went back to him, wouldn't you? Why else did you find a wizard family to take you in? Keeping an ear out for news, weren't you, Peter? Just in case your old protector regained strength, and it was safe to rejoin him..." Pettigrew seemed to have lost the ability to speak.

"Er-Mr. Black-Sirius?" Black looked over at Hermione, surprise written on his face. Apparently, been spoken to in a polite manner was something that had not happened to him in a long time. "If you don't mind my asking, how-how did you get out of Azkaban, if you didn't use Dark magic?"

"Thank you!" Pettigrew gasped. "Exactly what I-" Lupin glared over at him, and he shut his mouth immediately.

Black frowned, apparently thinking hard. "I don't know how I did it. I think the only reason I never lost my mind is that I knew I was innocent. It wasn't a happy thought, so the dementors couldn't suck it out of me...but it kept me sane and knowing who I am...helped me keep my powers...so when it all became...too much...I could transform in my cell...become a dog. Dementors can't see, you know. They feel their way toward people by sensing their emotions...They could tell that my emotions were less-less human, less complex when I was a dog...but they thought, of course, that I was losing my mind like everyone else in there, so it didn't trouble them. But I was weak, very weak, and I had no hope of driving them away from me without a wand..."

Black took a deep breath and continued. "But then I saw Peter in that picture...I realized he was at Hogwarts with Harry...perfectly positioned to act, if one hint reached his ears that the Dark Side was gathering strength again...ready to strike at the moment he could be sure of allies...and to deliver the last Potter to them. If he gave them Harry, who would dare say he'd betrayed Voldemort? He'd be welcomed back with honors. So you see, I had to do something. I was the only one who knew Peter was still alive. It was as if someone had lit a fire in my head, and the dementors couldn't destroy it...It wasn't a happy feeling...it was an obsession...but it gave me strength, it cleared my mind. So, one night when they opened my door to bring food, I slipped past them as a dog...It's so much harder for them to sense animal emotions that they were confused...I was thin, very thin...thin enough to slip through the bars...I swam as a dog back to the mainland...I journeyed north and slipped into the Hogwarts grounds as a dog. I've been living in the forest ever since, except when I came to watch the Quidditch match, of course. You fly as well as your father did, Harry..."

He looked over at Harry. "Believe me, Harry, I never betrayed James and Lily. I would've died before I betrayed them." Finally, Harry nodded.

"No!" Pettigrew had fallen to his knees, and began moving towards Black. "Sirius-it's me...it's Peter...your friend...you wouldn't..." Black kicked out at him. "There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them."

"Remus! You don't believe this...Wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"

"Not if he thought I was the spy. I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?" Lupin said.

"Forgive me, Remus." Lupin nodded, rolling up his sleeves. "Not at all, Padfoot, old friend. And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?" Sirius nodded, also rolling up his sleeves. "Of course. Shall we kill him together, Remus?"

"Yes, I think so."

"You wouldn't...you won't..." Pettigrew turned to Ron. "Ron...haven't I been a good friend...a good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you? You're on my side, aren't you?" Ron was staring at him with the utmost revulsion on his face. "I let you sleep in my bed!"

"Kind boy...kind master...you won't let them do it...I was your rat...I was a good pet..."

"If you made a better rat than a human, it's not much to boast about, Peter," Black snapped. Ron pulled his leg out of Pettigrew's reach, his eyes screwed up in pain. Pettigrew then turned to Hermione. "Sweet girl...clever girl...you won't let them...help me..." Hermione pulled her robes out of Pettigrew's reach, looking disgusted. Then he turned to me. "Wonderful girl...beautiful girl...please...help me..." I simply glared at him.

"Harry...Harry...you look just like your father...just like him..."

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY?! HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM!? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM!?"

"Harry...Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed...James would've understood, Harry...he would've shown me mercy..." Black and Lupin grabbed Pettigrew by the shoulders and threw him down on the floor. "You sold Lily and James to Voldemort. Do you deny it?" Pettigrew burst into tears. "Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord...you have no idea...he has weapons you can't imagine...I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant for it to happen...He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me..."

"DON'T LIE! YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO VOLDEMORT FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"

"He-he was taking over everywhere! What was there to be gained by refusing him?"

"What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?! Only innocent lives, Peter!"

"You don't understand! He would have killed me, Sirius!"

Black now had a look of pure, unadulterated fury on his face. "THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED! DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!" Black and Lupin pointed their wands at him. "You should've realized that if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Goodbye Peter."

"NO!" Harry ran over, and stood in front of Pettigrew. "You can't kill him. You can't." Black and Lupin stared at him. "Harry, this piece of filth is the reason you have no parents. You heard him. His own stinking skin meant more to him than your whole family."

"I know. We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors. He can go to Azkaban...but don't kill him."

"Harry!" Pettigrew threw his arms around Harry's knees. "Thank you-it's more than I deserve-thank you-"

"Get off!" Harry shook him off. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because I don't reckon my dad would've wanted his best friends to become killers-just because of you." Black and Lupin looked at each other, then looked at Harry. "It's your decision, Harry," Black said. "But think...think what he did..."

"He can go to Azkaban. If anyone deserves that place, he does." Lupin nodded. "Very well. Stand aside, Harry." Harry hesitated. "I'm only going to tie him up. That's all, I swear." A few seconds later, Pettigrew lay on the floor, bound and gagged. "But if you transform, Peter," Black snarled, "we will kill you. You agree, Harry?" Harry nodded.

"Right," Lupin said, looking over at me and Ron. "I can't mend bones as well as Madame Pomfrey, so I think it's best if we just strap your leg up until we can get you up to the hospital wing, Ron. Evangeline, you'll just have to wait, all right?" I laughed dryly, clutching my ribs. "I made it this long without passing out, didn't I?" Lupin nodded at this while he summoned a splint for Ron's leg. Lupin helped him up, and Ron put his weight on his leg without wincing. "That's better. Thanks."

"What about Professor Snape?" Hermione asked, looking over at him. "There's nothing seriously wrong with him," Lupin said. "You were just a little-overenthusiastic. Still out cold. Perhaps it will be best if we don't revive him until we're safely back in the castle. We can take him like this." He pointed his wand at Snape, and muttered, _"Mobilicorpus."_

Lupin picked up the Invisibility Cloak and tucked it into his pocket. "And two of us should be chained to this," Black said, nudging Pettigrew with his boot. "Just to make sure."

"I'll do it," Lupin said.

"And me," Ron said, limping forward. Black summoned manacles from thin air, binding the three together. Crookshanks leapt off the bed and led the way out of the room.


End file.
